When drone delivery company Wing first launched its U.S. services in October 2019, officials said customers ordered items such as sweets and chocolates.

Five months later the pandemic hit. Wing “immediately” noticed a shift in the way people used drone delivery services, which are set to begin in Frisco and Little Elm in the coming months, Wing’s Marketing and Communications Manager Jacob Demmitt said.

“It was less about the novelty and the fun, and it was more about, like, ‘Oh, I can’t get out. I actually need to use this service,’” Demmitt said. “So we saw a huge spike in toilet paper deliveries.”

Like Wing, many Dallas-Fort Worth businesses have seen a change in how consumers use their services. Restaurants such as Crush Taco have experienced a much higher demand for delivery and takeout orders, even after lockdowns and capacity restrictions lifted months ago.

“We’re in a much better place today [than March 2020],” Weitzman Executive Vice President Michelle Caplan said during the firm’s annual forecast that was livestreamed in January. “Everyone from retailers to landlords to shoppers ... have all faced enormous challenges with innovation and ingenuity. We’ve navigated risk and achieved one of the greatest market turnarounds ever.”


Customers in Wing’s operating areas have continued to use the service at the rate they were at the height of the pandemic. Demmitt said he suspects that this is because now people’s attitudes about delivery have changed.

“We all have these moments where we’re not able to go out,” Demmitt said.

“Even from day to day, like, maybe you don’t have a babysitter, or you have a flat tire, or you’re just busy studying for a test. ... We all have so many barriers to going out, and that’s really where our technology shines. We’re able to replace those quick trips to the shops and use drones instead.”

While drone delivery use is on the rise, many North Texas businesses are experiencing an increase in in-person shopping. Texas-based commercial real estate firm Weitzman noted that in-person shopping levels have more than recovered since the start of the pandemic throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.


As part of its report, Weitzman noted construction of new retail space in the region was at an all-time low in 2021, with just 640,000 square feet of new space added. That was nearly half the previous record low of 1.2 million square feet built in 2012, according to Matthew Rosenfeld, Weitzman executive vice president and director of DFW brokerage. However, increased demand for retail space and rising occupancy rates are expected to help turn things around in 2022, according to the forecast.

“Based on what’s in the pipeline, we expect construction to total approximately 2 million square feet [in 2022],” Caplan said. “That’s more than double the 2021 total, but it remains on the conservative side.”

Frisco saw a similar trend. Known for its fast growth, the city saw a dip in commercial building permits in 2020, with new permits issued dropping to 49 after ranging from 80-91 for the four years prior, according to the city’s yearly development report. That number rose to 74 in 2021.

At the same time Frisco added retail space, it saw vacancy rates increasing from 2020 to 2021, per city data.


But in the region, the Weitzman forecast also found retail occupancy was at 93.5% at the end of 2021. That rate was the third highest total the firm has recorded for DFW, just below its previously recorded highs of nearly 94% in 2019 and almost 95% in 1981.

The firm’s data is based on more than 1,400 shopping centers totaling more than 200 million square feet of retail space across the metroplex. Weitzman’s forecast for this year expects retail occupancy to increase to 95%.

The retail leasing market, which refers to newly available space, was also the third strongest the firm has seen in the DFW region in 22 years, according to Rosenfeld.

“This is [a] complete reversal from 2020, when pandemic-related closures resulted in vacancy jumping by more than 4 million square feet,” Rosenfeld said at the January event. “Our numbers [going into 2022] look remarkably like those of ... 2019—one of the best years ever for our retail market.”


Adapting in Frisco

Tony Felker, the Frisco Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, said most businesses are “stronger” today than they were before the pandemic.

“Every single business, no matter what industry, has been forced to look at every single line item on their income side and every single line item on their expense side and really dig down deep and say, ‘Is this still what we need to be doing?’” Felker said.

He added that the business owners who survived the worst of the pandemic did so by thoroughly analyzing their finances and operations.


“If things are going good, and you’ve got $1 to spend, you’re gonna say, ‘Sure, I’ll spend $1 on that,’” Felker said. “But if it’s your last dollar, and you’re about to spend it, you’re going to make darn sure that that dollar is going to come back to you, and hopefully with 50 cents back or $1 back, otherwise you’re not going to spend it.”

The mindset Felker described is one that Crush Taco owner Mo Assi adopted, which allowed him to open a second restaurant in January.

During the initial shutdowns, Assi said Crush Taco relied exclusively on delivery orders through third-party apps, such as DoorDash. Before the pandemic, delivery and takeout were about 40% of Crush Taco’s sales, Assi said. Today, even after indoor dining has resumed, delivery and takeout make up about 70% of the restaurant’s sales. Assi said the pandemic has made many people more comfortable with using delivery services.

“Prior to COVID[-19], I think the consumer was wary on if that was a safe, alternative option to going into a restaurant,” Assi said. “Now it’s very common for that to happen. And it’s not just the restaurant industry. It’s industry as a whole.”

‘Tech and mortar’

Rosenfeld said grocery stores throughout the region have led the way in using digital tools to help physical retailers meet changing customer needs. That is an approach Weitzman refers to as “tech and mortar.”

“Without a doubt, COVID[-19] has transformed grocery shoppers’ behavior, and brick-and-mortar locations [that] are offering delivery and curbside pickup [are] benefiting,” Rosenfeld said.

The region is seeing expansions from grocers, such as Kroger, Sprouts and H-E-B, according to the Weitzman forecast. H-E-B has announced plans to open new stores in Frisco and Plano in 2022 and McKinney in 2023.

The demand for Walmart’s pickup and delivery services has led the company to increase its order fulfillment capacity by 40% over the last two years, according to Lauren Willis, the retailer’s communications director for Texas.

“The pandemic permanently changed how customers shop,” Willis said via email.

To help meet customers’ new shopping patterns, Walmart is adding market fulfillment centers to many existing stores, including ones in Plano and Lewisville. These centers will help meet the demand for Walmart’s contactless pickup and delivery services throughout the metroplex.

“Think of [these market fulfillment centers] as a condensed, modular warehouse in a number of Walmart stores across the country,” Willis said. “These local fulfillment centers are built within, or added to, a store to hold thousands of items customers shop [for] the most—from pantry, frozen and chilled foods to consumables and electronics—all in one flexible space.”

Looking ahead

While not all pandemic-related changes are likely to last, Felker said the community will have to wait for the long-term effects.

“Several [companies] have said, ‘We’re never going back to in-person, and we are going completely virtual,’” Felker said. “But what’s the long-term consequence of that in terms of company culture and productivity, and work-life balance?”