Fifth Wall Co-Founder Brendan Wallace Claims Brick and Mortar is Not Dying
Fifth Wall is a $212 million venture capital fund investing in technologies for the Built World, backed by the largest owners & operators of real estate in the US. Alyssa Julya Smith sat down with co-founder Brendan Wallace to get insight into what is happening to retail this holiday shopping season.
Wallace says brick-and-mortar stores are not dying, but companies will have to redefine strategy to include omni-channel strategies. For example, stores will have fewer retail outlets, but include different options for customers to buy products.
Wallace also touches on newer models of retail, which include bridging the tech and physical space to encompass both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar options. Wallace says Fifth Wall invests in companies that bring real estate and retail to consumers.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.