Urban Beekeeping Initiative
ShopCore’s smallest tenants.
What’s All the Buzz?
We recognize the importance of preserving honeybees with our urban beekeeping initiative. Currently, more than 50% of our properties house at least one hive as a part of this program, and this year we are also sponsoring two community hives. With up to 50,000 bees per hive at peak season, that’s more than 2.5 million of these critically important pollinators. Year-round, certified beekeepers care for our bees, then during harvest season honey is extracted and distributed to tenants and community members. But there is more to bees than just honey. We hope to increase awareness and engagement as we support more sustainable buildings and ecosystems.
The Importance of Honeybees
A force to bee reckoned with.
Food & Economic Security
Bees pollinate more than 90% of leading global crop types. Approximately one-third of the world’s food production depends on bees to pollinate these food crops. Pollination also supports non-food crops that contribute directly to the production of medicines, biofuels, construction materials, and recreational products. In 2022, our hives provided pollination services to more than 360 square miles of the communities in which we operate.
Biodiversity
A vast majority of global pollinators are bees, with more than 20,000 species of bees worldwide. Nearly 90% of wild flowering plant species depend on pollination and are critical for biodiversity and continued ecosystem functioning. A single bee can visit 1,500 flowers in one day. In 2022, ShopCore’s bees collectively made over 450 billion visits to the flowers in our communities. By supporting critical plant species, bees have an irreplaceable role in supporting and sustaining countless other plants and animals.
Bee Population Threats
More than 40% of bee species are threatened with global extinction due to dangers posed by land use change, intensive agricultural management, pesticide use, pollution, invasive species, diseases and climate change. The United States has lost an estimated 30-40% of bees annually since 2006. It’s important to do our part to maintain these critical species.
Our Urban Beekeeping Partnership
Our hives are installed and maintained through our partnership with turnkey urban beekeeping company Alvéole. Alvéole maintains hives at 51 of our properties and 2 of our charitable partner locations. Alvéole beekeepers also regularly update MyHive, a publicly accessible, one-stop social media web portal for the hives, with posts, pictures, and videos from each of these properties.
ShopCore also aims to build a stronger sense of community through this initiative, and our partners help us do just that. Throughout the year, our partner beekeeping company offers educational workshops and activities for virtual or in person engagement with the honeybees. And at the end of the harvest season, complimentary jars of honey are distributed to tenants, ShopCore employees, and the surrounding communities. In 2022, our 36 hives at 29 properties produced 3,600 jars of honey.
Honey, I’m Home!
Did you know we have 53 beehives at 52 locations across 12 states? Click below to see our full list and get a bee’s eye view into the hives our honeybees call home.
SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING AT OUR HIVES