Ep. #013: Experiential Retail is Key to Attracting Younger Consumers — Bruce Findlay, Landsec

Physical retail isn’t dying — it’s being rebuilt on better data, sharper design, and a clearer understanding of what younger consumers actually want when they walk through the door.

Bruce Findlay, Head of Retail at Landsec, brings rare clarity to a conversation the industry too often buries in optimism. As one of the UK’s largest real estate operators, Landsec manages some of Britain’s most significant retail destinations — and Findlay has a front-row seat to what’s working, what’s failing, and what the next generation of physical retail actually looks like.

In this episode of Street Talk with Arthur Z, Findlay moves beyond the tired “retail is dying” narrative and into something more useful: the science of why people show up, what makes them stay, and what sends them straight back to their phones.

Key themes:

• Why the non-linear shopping journey has made the old department store model structurally obsolete — and what replaces it
• The asymmetry of experience: why a negative visit does more damage than a positive one does good, and what that means for customer retention strategy
• The shift from accidental footfall to data-driven destination design — and why most legacy brands are still operating on gut instinct
• Experiential retail as a tool for attracting Gen Z and younger millennials: what it actually takes versus what most brands think it takes

This is a masterclass in thinking about physical space as a strategic asset, not a legacy cost.

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