As states and cities around the U.S. gradually drop COVID-19 restrictions, things are looking up for retail landlords, according to the April 2021 report from data firm Datex. The firm reports that total retail rent collections among the tenants it tracks reached 89.42 percent in April, a world of difference from the 59.73 percent in rent collected in April 2020 and a slight uptick from 88.43 percent in March. National chains performed a little better, paying 93.44 percent of their rent due, while local and regional chains paid 85.07 of their rent for the month.
Datex numbers further show that beauty and hair salons, home goods stores, fitness studios and drug stores posted the greatest increases in rent collections month-to-month. Those trends make sense in light of wider re-openings throughout the country amid a large-scale vaccination campaign, with people feeling more confident about visiting places that might require close human contact, such as hair salons, as well as common vaccination sites, such as drug stores.