The co-founders of The Retail Connection don’t have a whole lot in common when it comes to their backgrounds—or their personalities. The energetic, talkative Steve Lieberman is a master negotiator who has spent his entire career in the retail real estate sector. The low-key, serious, and sometimes wry Alan Shor worked for more than a decade as a corporate attorney before shifting to the operations side of business, running a national jewelry chain.
They knew each other tangentially when a common friend brought them together in 2003. At the time, both were looking to start their own concern. “You guys are perfect for each other,” the friend said. “You’re what you both need. You each bring things to the table that are complementary; you fill gaps for the other.”
Lieberman and Shor discovered they had distinctly different skill sets, but a common vision for the kind of business they wanted to build. So in January of 2004, they co-founded The Retail Connection.
The partners were determined to create a firm that would reinvent how landlords and tenants work together. The focus: Driving the expansion plans of retail clients and extending the reach of their real estate programs. They’d grow, they figured, by helping their clients grow.
