| Shoppers are buying everything from designer suits to new automobiles online, but most of us still have to travel somewhere for a dental checkup or a haircut. That’s one reason why the staid strip center can continue to thrive even as more glamorous shopping malls may struggle. Wall Street Journal Reporter Esther Fung this week explains how strip centers have proven more resilient than many retail observers ever expected, thanks to a mixture of neighborhood convenience and a clear focus on staples like groceries, salons, cheap food and medical offices. 
“Things are close, I like that,” said Jonathan Moukhtafi, a chiropractor in Coconut Creek, Fla., summing up why he’s a regular visitor to his local shopping center. Stock market investors are coming around, too. Share prices of strip center REITs gained 8.6% over the past 12 months, easily outperforming the 19.3% decline in the share price of mall landlords, according to data from FactSet.
Reporter Konrad Putzier writes about U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee and one of President Trump’s favorite golfing partners, who is co-sponsoring a bill that would ease new restrictions on a popular real estate investment program. And from Tokyo, reporter Miho Inada takes a look at the new Takanawa Gateway railway station opening in March as part of a nearly $5 billion development. At 32 acres, the project known as Global Gateway Shinagawa is bigger than Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, which was used as a model. The railway will be operating in time for the millions of visitors to Tokyo for the Summer Olympics. East Japan Railway hopes to use the station as a showcase of cutting-edge technologies including an unmanned convenience store and robot guides. | 
