2B z TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019 z USA TODAY MONEY
be the country’s largest mall once com-
plete.
Experiential retail is a concept where
retailers or shopping centers create ex-
periences that will lure shoppers to their
properties, where they later shop. It also
describes a mode of retail where shop-
pers are engaged with a product.
A traditional shopping center may in-
vest in on-site experiences by opening a
luxury movie theater, upping its dining
options or even investing in virtual real-
ity tenants or escape rooms. American
Dream’s experiences are much more ex-
treme: a theme park, water park, indoor
ski slope and aquarium. The list goes on.
Tenants, experts predict, will likely also
have experiential components inside
their stores as part of their leases.
Experiential retail was conceived out
of necessity by the retail industry.
With the rise of the internet, online
shopping drastically changed consum-
ers’ spending habits. People were no
longer flocking to brick-and-mortar
stores because they could do their shop-
ping from home. That ate into the profits
of some of the country’s biggest retail-
ers – namely, the department stores
that were mainstays inside traditional
malls. When those retailers went dark,
malls struggled. Mall owners had to get
creative with their offerings to attract
shoppers, or else they, too, would fail.
Despite the grim state of retail na-
tionwide, American Dream will be en-
tering an already-crowded – and profit-
able – regional retail market. In North
Jersey, the retail sector is thriving. That,
Lanyard said, is largely a testament to
the wise decisions that mall developers
have made to keep area malls bustling.
In Paramus, often seen as North Jer-
sey’s retail capital, the borough’s malls
are constantly reinventing themselves.
Westfield’s Garden State Plaza in
January unveiled an ambitious plan to
bring mixed-used residential develop-
ment to the property. That project will
eventually create a miniature down-
town at the mall, with an outdoor ice
rink and sprawling green space for its
residents. The mall already ranks
among the top 10 most profitable malls
in the country, according to CNBC, and
was not struggling when it announced
the sweeping proposal.
Garden State Plaza has also been
partnering with first-to-market retail-
ers, like a virtual reality provider who
will be opening its first New Jersey
store there later this year. Toys R Us is
also expected to open a store at the
mall next month, in the popular retail-
er’s much-talked-about rebirth this
holiday season.
Paramus Park Mall, once strug-
gling, recently welcomed New Jersey’s
first Stew Leonard’s supermarket to its
roster. The new tenant filled a vacancy
left behind by Sears, a longtime ten-
ant, and has helped increase traffic to
the property. Over the past several
years, The Outlets at Bergen Town
Center has also reinvented itself as a
destination for off-price shopping.
“New Jersey has some of the
strongest demographics in the coun-
try,” Lanyard said, “but even here
these mall operators very wisely re-
tooled and re-positioned their malls so
each one of them draws new, different
kinds of clients.”
The retail world has been changing
for decades.
In the 1950s, shoppers ditched
downtown businesses for malls in the
suburbs – then just a shiny, new con-
cept for families. Because those malls
across the country are now either dy-
ing or changing, retailers have started
to see the writing on the wall.
“I think the future of retail is pretty
clear,” said Jan Rogers Kniffen, a na-
tional retail consultant. “Sometime
between now and 2030, 50% of all re-
tailis going to be sold online.”
That means retailers are investing
in smaller footprints and more show-
rooms, and focusing more on deliver-
ing their products to customers quick-
ly, Kniffen said. Retailers are also put-
ting emphasis on in-store services.
The kind of retail that is succeeding,
he added, are off-price, resale and
rental. Simply put, he doesn’t see the
future of retail looking like American
Dream. He sees traditional malls con-
tinuing to evolve in ways already seen
in communities like Paramus.
Traditional malls are “going to have
less apparel in them, they’re going to
have more restaurants, they’re going
to have more entertainment venues,”
Kniffen said. “They’re going to be more
like a traditional mall and less like an
amusement park. American Dream is
just an amusement park with some re-
tail in it.”Retailers
Continued from Page 1B
should take their repayment responsi-
bility seriously.
Jessica Ferastoaru,a student loan
counselor at Take Charge America, a
nonprofit debt counseling service in
Phoenix, recommends borrowers use
the six months to understand what
they’re dealing with. That can be a
daunting task, especially for people
who might be starting new jobs, pos-
sibly moving homes or grappling with
other life changes.
“There’s a theme of incredible con-
fusion around student loans,” she said.
Borrowers often don’t know how
many loans they have, which pay-
ment-lowering options they might
qualify for, who the servicing compa-
nies are or the consequences of falling
behind on payments.
“We have seen people with 20
loans,” Ferastoaru said.
Each one could have its own fea-
tures and wrinkles.
It’s important to make payments on
time, yet some borrowers might not
fully realize the implications, especial-
ly young adults who haven’t dealt with
creditors.
Missing payments or going into de-
fault “is absolutely the worst possible
thing you can do,” cautioned Kalman
Chany,author of the 2020 edition of
“Paying for College.”
Falling behind on payments can
damage your credit score – a measure
of your ability and willingness to make
good on debts – and this can crimp
your ability to get credit cards, mort-
gages or other loans on good terms.
Defaulting on a loan can result in
wage garnishment or having your in-
come tax refunds or even Social Secu-
rity payments reduced or withheld by
the government, Ferastoaru said.
Default can make it difficult to ob-
tain additional loans for graduate
school, should that be a goal.
If in doubt about which federal
loans you have and how much you
owe, Ferastoaru suggested checking
the National Student Loan Data Sys-
tem. Credit reports available through
annualcreditreport.com should list
private loan details.
If you can afford it, you might find it
worthwhile to pay down your debtsearly. By adding, say, $100 a month to a
fairly typical student loan of $29,000,
you could get rid of the obligation three
years early and save $3,000 in interest
over that time, according to Ronald
Denk of Denk Strategic Wealth Partners
in Phoenix.
If you decide to prepay some debt
and if you have multiple loans, decide
which ones to tackle first.
Denk suggested applying additional
payments to get rid of loans with the
highest interest rates. Conversely, if you
feel the need to see tangible progress
sooner, consider paying off debts with
smaller balances first to get them out of
the way.
As attractive as paying down a stu-
dent loan early might seem, it’s impor-
tant to consider other, and possibly bet-
ter, uses for extra cash. These include
building up an emergency fund, saving
for a home or contributing money to an
employer’s 401(k) plan.
“If your employer offers matching
funds, that’s often the best investment
return,” Rusinak, said, though the deci-
sion gets more complicated, and per-
sonal, after you contribute enough to
max out on available employer match-
ing funds.
As with mortgages and other debts,
you might be able to obtain a new stu-
dent loan featuring a lower interest rate.
Just be aware that refinancing could
mean extending the length of your in-
debtedness, possibly piling up higher
overall interest costs and delaying the
date when you’ll be debt-free.
Consolidation, or combining multi-
ple loans into one, is another possibility.
This can simplify your financial life
and possibly lower your payments. In
particular, consolidating federal loans
will give you a loan featuring one pay-
ment and a blending of the interest rates
on your prior loans, Rusinak said.
Refinancing, by contrast, gives you
“an entirely fresh loan,” he said.
Be aware that consolidating or refi-
nancing can affect, and possibly make
you ineligible for, other benefits.
For example, some of your debt could
be canceled if you become disabled or
pursue various types of service careers.
Chany cited teaching, law enforcement
or nursing work in low-income areas as
examples of jobs that might qualify for
forgiveness. But tweaking your loans
could invalidate that.
Reach Wiles at russ.wiles@arizona
republic.com or 602-444-8616.Loan debtContinued from Page 1BOur series “How I became a ...” digs
into the stories of accomplished and
influential people, finding out how
they got to where they are in their ca-
reers.
From the White House to the United
Nations, Susan Rice’s career in national
security and public service has been an
illustrious one. The assistant secretary
of state for African affairs during the
Clinton administration, Rice also served
as U.S. ambassador to the United Na-
tions and national security adviser un-
der President Barack Obama. A long ca-
reer in the thick of governmental affairs
led to Rice dealing with what the rest of
America saw in national headlines, such
as the rise of the Islamic State, the Ebola
crisis and the negotiations behind the
Iran nuclear deal.
Out of the White House, Rice turned
to writing: in her new memoir “Tough
Love: My Story of the Things Worth
Fighting For,” published Oct. 8, Rice dis-
cusses everything from her formative
years and family struggles to the key
pieces of her career in foreign policy and
national security.
USA TODAY caught up with the au-
thor, ambassador and foreign policy ex-
pert to discuss everything from climb-
ing up the ranks in government to the
overwhelming joy of the Supreme
Court’s landmark Obergefell decision
on marriage equality.
Question: How did you get your
start?
Susan Rice: Almost by accident,
when I was a graduate student at Ox-
ford, I decided not to go to law school
and to continue my work and get my
Ph.D. in international relations. I wasn’t
necessarily certain that I would end up
working in foreign policy and natural
security – I knew I wanted to work in the
policy world – but I was still very inter-
ested in a wide range of domestic policy
issues that would advance education
opportunity and equality.
In 1992, after President Clinton was
elected and I was working as a manage-
ment consultant, I got offered two jobs
in the brand-new White House: one on
economic policy staff and one on the
National Security Council staff. I wres-
tled with that decision and chose the
National Security Council staff, and that
led to my discovering that I had a pas-
sion for the work. I found it exciting and
challenging and rewarding, and one job
literally led to another, so I spent eight
years in the Clinton administration in
three different jobs of increasing senior-
ity.
By the time that the end of the Clin-
ton administration came, it was clear
that this was the field I wanted to stay in
and try to do my best to contribute at
more senior levels. One thing led to an-
other, but at that point it became much
more deliberate, whereas up until that
point it was not part of a comprehen-sive plan.Q: What does a typical day look like
for you?
Rice:Now, I’ve got my freedom. The
best part about my life is that I can do
whatever the hellI want to do with my
day, or not do. Usually, I get up around
7-ish, and I take my time and have my
coffee and work out. Then I’m off doing
whatever it is the work of the day could
be: It could be writing, it could be going
on a speaking engagement, it could be
mentoring students (which I do at the
School of International Service at
American University and also up at Har-
vard), and now, of course, I’m doing a lot
of stuff related to the book. Most of my
days, if I’m not having to make a public
appearance – I’m in my yoga pants and a
fleece. That’s my typical uniform. I’m
under no obligation, very refreshingly,
to have to conform to anybody else’s
schedule or expectations.
When I was in government, it was a
completely different story. When I was
national security adviser, I’d have to get
up 5:30 or 6a.m. I still tried to work out
while watching the news, reading the
newspaper, listening to NPRor some-
thing on television, then scrambling to
kiss my kids goodbye as they went off to
schooland jumping into my armored
SUV that the Secret Service took me to
and from work in. I’d receive my intelli-
gence briefing from my briefer, and then
speed in to the White House for a whirl-
wind of morning meetings, sort of cram-
ming to be prepared to brief the presi-
dent around 10a.m.
We’d have the daily intelligence na-
tional security briefing with the presi-
dent, and then it was a series of internal
and external meetings with my team,
with foreign visitors, or the national se-
curity principals – the Cabinet-level of-
ficials – that met multiple times a week
to wrestle with the toughest policy is-
sues and make recommendations to the
president. I would be in those kinds of
meetings until 6or 7 at night, at which
point I’d be back in my office having to
review and approve a mountain of paper
going to the president of the United
States. On a good night, we’d get out of
there at 8 or 9p.m. On a bad night, itwould be 11 or 12.
(They were) long days, and often sev-
en days a week depending on what was
going on. You’re always tethered to a
phone; not just your cellphone, but a se-
cure phone. Nowhere did I ever go – lit-
erally for the entirety of my time as na-
tional security adviser – that I did not
have, very nearby, secure communica-
tions and the ability for one of our com-
municators to bring me whatever sensi-
tive information I needed to have in the
moment. You’re never unplugged.Q: What was your favorite part
about your career in government?
Rice: I think the best part was the
quality of the people I was fortunate to
work with, in both administrations.
People don’t appreciate how smart, how
committed, how incredibly hardwork-
ing people in public service are, and
some of my closest friends and some of
my most enduring relationships have
come from people I’ve become close to
during my service in government. Work-
ing with President Obama was a huge
privilege, but also a lot of fun, and the
team around him was high-quality,
committed. Everybody had each other’s
backs, and it was really like a wonderful,
wonderful team.Q: How did you balance work, life,
and such a busy schedule?
Rice: First of all, exercise. That was
huge for me, and even though I get to do
more of it now than I did when I was
U.N. ambassador and national security
adviser, staying fit helped keep me from
losing my mind. Secondly, being a mom
is just hugely valuable for giving you
perspective and giving you people who
want to want to be with you and who
love you and support you uncondition-
ally. In the same vein, my extraordinary
husband – we’ve been married over 27
years and we’ve been together 37 years- and I’ve been extremely blessed to
have a life partner who is with me in ev-
ery respect, every step of the way. Be-
tween my kids, my husband, and when
my parents were alive my parents, and
still my brother, family is hugely impor-
tant to me and has been a huge source of
sustenance.
HOW I BECAME A ...
How Susan Rice rose to Obama’s inner circle
Susan Rice's career in public service
saw her help lead the nation through
such landmark events as the rise of
ISIS, the Ebola crisis and the Iran
nuclear agreement.CHRISTOPHER PATEYPublic service colleagues
were best part of the job
Susannah Hutcheson
Special to USA TODAY