Ryan Pecot has been in the commercial real estate industry for 25 years. Retail development, he says, comes in cycles.

The south Louisiana market is in a new one.

What you’re not seeing right now: the national big brands like Costco and Whole Foods that entered the market about 10 years ago. Also, with a couple of exceptions, those recently wide-open spaces are becoming shopping centers.

What you are seeing is this: infill development of mostly smaller brands that have a base here. More franchise brands are entering the market, but many of them have smaller footprints that allow them to be more nimble.

“I work from Lake Charles to Mobile, and every major metropolitan area on that corridor has got activity,” said Pecot, a senior retail leasing and development adviser with Stirling Prope

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