December 2, 2007
International Council of Shopping Centers: Ethnic consumers in inner cities and other urban areas may not have the fat wallets of their suburban counterparts, but they still enjoy shopping and spending money, and can support the right kinds of retail developments in their neighborhoods, Earvin "Magic" Johnson said at ICSC's New York National Conference and Deal Making program in New York City. Johnson, whose private equity firm Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund now has $1 billion in funding for retail projects in ethnically diverse, densely populated areas in the U.S., says developers should not be afraid to venture into such markets.