Hunton Retail Law Resource

M&A activity was strong in 2025, marking the second-best year on record for both global and North American markets. Technology, industrials, finance, and healthcare remained at the forefront, with retail and consumer products sectors also seeing a lot of movement. On a full-year basis, total deal value in retail, consumer products, and hospitality reached its highest level since the pandemic-era peak in 2021.

In 2025, California, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington proposed fashion accountability bills to impose environmental due diligence requirements on high-earning businesses in the fashion industry.

Fires and utility disruptions can bring a retail business to a grinding halt, leading to lost revenue, supply chain headaches and frustrated customers. Many retailers assume they’re protected—only to face unexpected roadblocks when they file a claim. In a recent Hunton Retail Law Resource blog post, insurance coverage counsel Rachel E. Hudgins and associate Brian W. Fernandez break down what business interruption coverage really means, common pitfalls to avoid and how to make sure your policy works when you need it most. Read more here. 

When developing a retail shopping center, landlords have a vision for what that shopping center will look like. This vision comes to life as the shopping center is leased up and tenants open for business. In order to preserve that vision, and ultimately the marketability of the shopping center, landlords will craft permitted use, prohibited use and exclusive use concepts into their leases to ensure that the shopping center occupants continue to operate in the shopping center throughout the term of their leases in accordance with the landlord’s vision.