The Current State of Retail

Since 1989 J. Raymond has built the majority of its business in the retail market. Starting with tenant build-outs we grew to do huge centers of hundreds of thousands of square feet.

In recent years we have not seen many (any, really) of that size as the major anchors all became much more selective of sites and pushed many of the commitments already made into the future as they reassessed their real estate strategies.

In recent years we have managed to stay at the forefront of the retail market. The size and type of work that we are doing has certainly changed, though. Instead of large new projects much of our work now is infill, tear down/rebuild, additions, renovations and retracing the path to our roots, interior build-outs.

Our experience has been that even in a recession people have to eat. We have grown our grocery store portfolio to include Publix, Aldi, Fresh Market, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets.

In addition to grocers, some of the other active retailers we see in the southeast include Dick's Sporting Goods, Kohl's, Golfsmith, HH Gregg, Marshall's, Ross, JoAnn Fabrics, Gordon Food Service (GFS), WAWA and of course the biggest of all, Wal-Mart.p>

We are even seeing some of the larger projects which have been sitting on the sidelines for years coming back to life.

Retail will continue to be an integral part of our business. 2012 looks as though it will be much of the same as far as types of work available but, hopefully, there will be more of it and even a sprinkling of a few larger projects thrown in for good measure.

Please let us know how we can help you with your 2012 projects.

Paul Graham

Business Development

The President's Corner

Welcome to our first ever Electronic Newsletter. Each month we will share with you what is happening at J. Raymond as well as featuring articles about projects, clients, employees, industry happenings, technology advancements and general information meant to enhance your business and your life.

Our business has evolved over the last several years in light of the unsettling economic times. Some of the steps we have taken to insure our continued success and financial well being that I would like to share with you include:

• Entering new markets. We are actively involved in the medical industry and have completed numerous Medical Office Buildings and suite interiors including work that falls under the jurisdiction of AHCA (Agency for HealthCare Administration).Warehousing/Manufacturing are an integral part of our product offering as is Church and Non Profit work. We are even getting ready to bid a major Auto Dealership in Miami.
• Greatly expanding our Geographic Coverage. Over the last four years we have gotten licensed in South and North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama and Louisiana and are actively working in South Carolina and will soon be starting a project in New Orleans.
• Invested in new technology. We have brought on an expert in BIM (Building Information Modeling) and have successfully implemented its use on a large complex project here in Orlando. It is an excellent tool for identifying "clashes" in the documents well before you encounter them in the field.

As we close out 2011 and head into a new year we are thankful for the many fiends we have made, the projects we have built and the clients that have allowed us to build them as well as all of our employees who have worked so hard to make it happen.

I hope you enjoy this, and future, issues of our newsletter and, as always, let us know how we can help you.

John Sofarelli

President