Her Story
About Yvonne
Yvonne Wikstrom is a retail real estate executive with over three decades of experience in corporate expansion and site selection for national brands. She currently serves in a senior real estate role at Panera Bread, where she develops market strategies, works with brokers nationwide, negotiates leases, and presents committee packages for new locations across half the country plus Canada. Her career includes construction management at McDonald's, real estate growth roles at Starbucks and The Gap (where she ran the New York City office and launched Athleta's first brick-and-mortar stores), and a mechanical engineering degree from Buffalo University earned in 1988. She is a member of ICSC and the Pipeline Group. Wikstrom attributes her success to hard work, dedication, and maintaining strong industry relationships, and she advises others to prioritize networking while becoming subject-matter experts through time spent in the field. She values transparency, honesty, and ethical conduct, and leads teams by example in a collaborative style that removes obstacles for others.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Yvonne
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think it's first of all, it's just a lot of hard work. You know, lots, a lot of hard work and dedication. It's really establishing and maintaining relationships, very, very important, and that's really ultimately how I was able to succeed in getting back into the job market after I'd taken a few years off. I had stayed active, don't get me wrong. I had just taken a pause from being in a corporate role for maybe upwards of 2 or 3 years, that was it. But staying active in the industry during that time, and really maintaining my relationships in the business, very, very important, I think.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I think probably what I just said, really, I'm just passing on what was told to me, was the importance of maintaining good networking relations in the industry. Don't burn any bridges. It's a small community. Don't burn bridges, stay true to your word.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say take advantage of the networking opportunities that you have, being involved in organizations like the ICSC or other women's networking organizations, so definitely staying active and busy in the industry, working on your relationships in that regard. And really taking the time to spend the time in the field, if that's what's needed from your job role, really learning the markets and spending time in the field. Being the subject matter expert.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Currently, I think for my industry, being in the corporate retail end of things, it's really slumping sales at the moment. People are very cautious about spending right now. We struggle with online commerce as being a competitor in the bricks and mortar sector. In certain companies I've worked for, Panera being one of them now, is cannibalization, finding places to locate where we're not going to be cannibalizing existing assets. And rising development costs as well. The biggest opportunity would be cost-efficient real estate decisions, trying to drive down development costs.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think transparency, in the work life, for sure, being very transparent, honesty, obviously, never can overestimate how important that is. Honesty, transparency. Those I think are critical. Ethical.
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