Century 3 Mall...$13 million dollar renovation (Pittsburgh, Penn: sale, how much, home)

[Goinback2011]

There was a report out a week or so ago projecting that 40 percent of brick and mortar stores in the US will be gone in 10 years.

Investing in malls seems a total waste of money.

[Caladium]

I dunno.... the weather this year may make a lot of people start rethinking how nice a mall can be. There's something to be said for place where you can comfortably walk from store to store when the weather's extreme. And Pittsburgh has a lot of older residents--they like them as a place to meet friends and get some exercise (mall walking).

As retail becomes less of a focus, a lot of malls are renting units to services. I think that works out well. One mall near me had a cooking school open in a former Tower Records. People walking by can watch the students learning how to make various fancy creations--it's fun. Another store became an optometrist's office. There's now a tailor in the mall, and a little gym opened there, too.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by Goinback2011

There was a report out a week or so ago projecting that 40 percent of brick and mortar stores in the US will be gone in 10 years.

Investing in malls seems a total waste of money.

Brick and mortar isn't going away anytime soon - certainly not within a generation or two. But "anchor" stores are. And that changes the basic economics of mall design and profitability. Target, Macy's and Nordstrom are well-positioned, but most other traditional "department" stores aren't. JCP is likely to go under. Sears locations will be smaller and fewer and will likely eliminate most departments other than hard goods. Wal*Mart typically builds to draw shoppers away from enclosed malls rather than be part of them. Same with Sam's and Costco.

What should be happening with malls is higher-end supermarkets like Whole Foods and Wegman's taking over anchor spots instead of building standalone locations - but for some reason that's not happening here. Fresh food is one pretty safe bet to remain "brick and mortar" well into the next century.

[FreightTrainRunning]

For some reason, people do still seem to enjoy going to actual physical stores to buy stuff. I don't really understand it personally but brick and mortar will probably be around for a while. Other than for food and drink , I guess that I end up in a store about half a dozen times a year but I'm not really typical.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by Caladium

I dunno.... the weather this year may make a lot of people start rethinking how nice a mall can be. There's something to be said for place where you can comfortably walk from store to store when the weather's extreme. And Pittsburgh has a lot of older residents--they like them as a place to meet friends and get some exercise (mall walking).

As retail becomes less of a focus, a lot of malls are renting units to services. I think that works out well. One mall near me had a cooking school open in a former Tower Records. People walking by can watch the students learning how to make various fancy creations--it's fun. Another store became an optometrist's office. There's now a tailor in the mall, and a little gym opened there, too.

I think you've hit on what will be the direction things will go. With more shopping being done online, malls will have to innovate to stay relevant.

[slavicamerican]

Malls will be around for a while longer, but the future seems to be in walkable, shopable, entertainment-filled downtowns -- at least for the reasonably well-off and upwardly-mobile. There's probably a correlation between the death of malls and how few young people are into driving these days. Most malls seem to be going the way of McMansions in far out burbs -- becoming pretty downscale. In the case of malls, they are attracting a less affluent clientelle and retailers like Sears and the Dollar Store, as opposed to Banana Republic and Nordstroms. At least that's what I'm reading and seeing somewhat.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by slavicamerican

Malls will be around for a while longer, but the future seems to be in walkable, shopable, entertainment-filled downtowns -- at least for the reasonably well-off and upwardly-mobile.

Eh, yes and no. Cities all over the US are trying to make their downtowns hip and vibrant, everywhere from Pittsburgh to Des Moines and even Los Angeles. It is an uphill battle because Americans have been favoring strip malls over indoor malls and downtowns for well over a decade. Urban sprawl is so common and accepted and there is still stigma that cities are crime ridden to suburbanites. Cities have been throwing money at downtown areas to make them more desirable but the results have been mixed.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by sskink

Brick and mortar isn't going away anytime soon - certainly not within a generation or two. But "anchor" stores are. And that changes the basic economics of mall design and profitability. Target, Macy's and Nordstrom are well-positioned, but most other traditional "department" stores aren't. JCP is likely to go under. Sears locations will be smaller and fewer and will likely eliminate most departments other than hard goods. Wal*Mart typically builds to draw shoppers away from enclosed malls rather than be part of them. Same with Sam's and Costco.

What should be happening with malls is higher-end supermarkets like Whole Foods and Wegman's taking over anchor spots instead of building standalone locations - but for some reason that's not happening here. Fresh food is one pretty safe bet to remain "brick and mortar" well into the next century.

This. ^ Although I wouldn't be surprised if Sears/Kmart also goes under. I think that's more due to the wacko management than anything. There should be something salvageable from the ashes of Sears in hard goods as you say. They have just opened up a Cranberry store of what might be the future, Sears Appliance and Mattress. Although apparently, these are franchised: Home : Sears Home Appliance Showrooms It's a newer concept I guess similar to the older Appliance and Hardware, which is still going too: Home : Sears Appliance & Hardware Stores I'm not sure why mattress. If anything it's Sears' appliance and hardware brands (Kenmore and Craftsman) that have some value. But mattress stores are sprouting like weeds around here recently.

There's a fair bit of stuff that I still get at brick and mortar because although I do repeat buy the same things and could have them shipped, it's actually more expensive for some things. Paper goods are like that. I could have paper towels shipped, but apparently not as efficiently as Target or wherever can have them shipped by the truckload and put them on the shelves and sell with 5% Red Card discount, at least not that I've seen. I haven't checked in a while for how much it costs to get those or similar items shipped. On the other hand, more specialty items I have enjoyed getting shipped recently, like pet food. Being able to get a month's supply and not have to worry that stores (a key one of which is not really super convenient) are out of what I need and so forth was fairly comforting. I have thought that some shelf-stable food might be worth looking into getting shipped, but I haven't gotten there yet. Closest I got was buying some Costco packaging of cans and bag of rice and such but it's been a year since I let my Costco membership lapse. I don't miss it much, but I might run across another item which makes the fee worth it again, just haven't run out of it yet.

I think DIY lumber and hardware remains brick and mortar for a while too. You need a bunch of lumber, easy to get shipped. You need a couple 2x4 or one sheet of plywood? Not so much.

The other thing that brick and mortar solves is the "I need it now". Sure there are whole categories that are perhaps almost never needed that immediately, but anything can break or be damaged or who knows what and you need it now.

[I_Like_Spam]

Originally Posted by slavicamerican

Malls will be around for a while longer, but the future seems to be in walkable, shopable, entertainment-filled downtowns -- at least for the reasonably well-off and upwardly-mobile. There's probably a correlation between the death of malls and how few young people are into driving these days.

I don't agree with this at all. People still like the idea of ample, free parking, particularly when they are shopping and need to tote their purchases home.

Downtown stores are going to need to make home delivery more convenient, like they did back in the day, if they really hope to compete with shopping malls. I remember going to town on the bus with my mum in the 60's and she always had Horne's deliver for anything

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by GeneW

For some reason, people do still seem to enjoy going to actual physical stores to buy stuff. I don't really understand it personally but brick and mortar will probably be around for a while. Other than for food and drink , I guess that I end up in a store about half a dozen times a year but I'm not really typical.

For clothing, there really is no substitute for trying something on. I would expect clothing retailers to be around in significant numbers for a long time. Then there are the various and sundry shops that sell trinkets, jewelry and other things based on walk in browsers and window-shoppers. They will probably still remain close by the clothing retailers, as well as coffee shops and restaurants. The trend recently has been toward outdoor districts for this, but I could certainly see indoor making a comeback, maybe in an updated manner as opposed to the standard malls built in the 70s and 80s.