Remaking our Third Places – Rethinking Retail

This is a time of unprecedented disruption in main street businesses. Restaurants and street-front retail, the social gathering third places that make urban living vibrant, are struggling. Foot traffic has plunged. Consumer behavior increasingly relies on e-commerce, delivery, and take-out.

Stores have adapted with innovative technology, changes to layouts, updated business models, and by embracing new uses.

This full-day virtual symposium asks experts and local leaders to look at Washington’s retail landscape and answer the questions

• How do we preserve and rebuild a viable retail industry in the metropolitan Washington DC area?
• What roles will design and technology play?
• How do we rebuild the place and purpose of the retail landscape of our communities?

Join us to explore trends and projections for the future of third places. ​

Speakers include:

• Ricardo Belmar – Retail Technologist
• Steve Carboni – Senior Vice President, Rappaport Co.
• Allison Cooke, IIDA, LEED AP – Principal, CORE
• Justin Cox – CEO, Atlas Brewery
• John Falcicchio – DC Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development
• Sadie Morgan, OBE – dRMM Co-Founding Director
• David Shove-Brown, AIA – Partner, Studio 3877
• Dan Simon – Founder and Co-Owner, Farmers Restaurant Group
• Gautham Vadakkepatt – George Mason Center for Retail Transformation
• Kristi C. Whitfield – Director, DC Department of Small and Local Business Development
• Michael Wiencek, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C – President of Wiencek+Associates

Co-hosted by the Center for Retail Transformation and the Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship of the George Mason School of Business