According to Reis Inc., New York-based real estate research firm, occupancies at U.S. shopping centers grew during the fourth quarter.
The firm noted this past Monday that U.S. shopping centers filled up an additional 3.18 million square feet, the most since 2007.
This includes neighborhood and community shopping centers usually anchored by grocery stores, drugstores or discount retailers.
Similar increases are expected to hit the Raleigh-Durham retail market when occupancy and absorption figures are released at the end of the month in Space, the Triangle Business Journal's commercial real estate quarterly.
U.S. employers added 300,000 workers in November and December, pushing the unemployment rate down to 8.5%, the lowest since February 2009, according to the Labor Department.