VALUE RETAIL’S SCOTT MALKIN ON THE JOY OF DISCOMFORT

QUOTING EMERSON, THE CEO BELIEVES THAT RETAIL IS MORE ABOUT THE JOURNEY THAN THE DESTINATION.

LONDON — With a trinity of degrees from Harvard and a philosophical approach to business, Scott Malkin is a rare bird in the retail property world. The founder and chairman of Value Retail, Malkin is a firm believer in brick-and-mortar stores, but recognizes that retail needs to evolve and become a spectacle again.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson talked about how the journey was more important than the destination.

That’s our world; we’re about delivering an ever-more-relevant journey,” said Malkin, a London-based Connecticut native who grew up in the property business — his father once owned the Empire State Building — and counts the late Marvin Traub, Burt Tansky and Sergio Loro Piana among his mentors.

Malkin moved to London in 1992