The Perfect Puzzle: My Idea for Delaware County Stores

[pcity]

Originally Posted by magicoz

why do Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks counties have nicer malls than Delco? Those areas aren't particularly rich. Delaware County is a poorer county but the western/northern part of it is decent...

Actually, they are very rich compared to the rest of the country. Montco, Chester and Bucks are all in the top 70 highest-income counties nationwide. Delaware is still decently high, but they're out of the top 100.

[PeeAye Native]

Originally Posted by magicoz

I have a question for any of you: why do Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks counties have nicer malls than Delco? Those areas aren't particularly rich. Delaware County is a poorer county but the western/northern part of it is decent...

The high-level, long-winded answer here is 'follow the money, ... and the property time line.'

Commercial property builders build malls where they can earn the most profit. In practical terms that means they where they can get the highest rent per square foot from their retail tenants. So they want retail tenants that are willing to pay the best rent over the longest time period. Example: Victoria's Secret would be preferred over Kohls, Macy's over Boscovs, Best Buy over Sears or K-Mart, Sears or K-Mart over Big Lots and Dollar Tree, and so on.

On the downside, demographics change over time. What was once a growing area 30 years ago may have cooled down in the passage of 20 years. Malls obviously can't be picked up and moved to the more affluent areas, another way to think of this is people, and their wealth and affluence, can move out of or into neighborhoods, communities and entire regions much, much quicker than malls can be built.

So when the demographics change, what mall property owners do is sell their ownership interest to another commercial RE company, 'down market' their tenants, and cut back on upkeep, modernization and maintenance. Some combination of all three usually happens. Twenty years of cutting back on upkeep, modernization and maintenance gets what you describe as less nicer properties. What would all the homes on your street look like if everyone went the economy route and did the cheapest, least expensive maintenance and landscaping they could get by with for the past 20 years?

And one other factor here, some malls (KOP is the prime example) draw regionally, from 50, 75 and 100 miles away. And other malls draw from a 10, 15 and 20 mile radius (Granite Run and Springfield Malls are two examples). The big regional ones obviously command the higher rent per sq ft and have the more comprehensive investments in upkeep and maintenance.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by magicoz

I have a question for any of you: why do Montgomery, Chester, and Bucks counties have nicer malls than Delco? Those areas aren't particularly rich. Delaware County is a poorer county but the western/northern part of it is decent...

What are you talking about? I would consider radnor, garnet valley, newtown square, media, swarthmore, upper providence, glenn mills, edgemont, and many other towns in delaware county more than decent. You have it backwards. Considering the small sections of extreme blight that delaware county has, and it is still one of the wealthiest counties in the country shows you that the rest of the county is more than decent. If you were to remove to the extreme southeastern section of the county, it would probably be the wealthiest county in the area.

Also again chester county i believe is in the top 25 wealthiest counties in the nation, with montgomery and bucks trailing. Calling a county as a whole "rich" is a strong word for any county, but i would put all 3 of them at very wealthy, especially chester county, which i think will continue to grow on that list making top 10 wealthiest within a decade or two