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Store closings:
FYE, Goody's, Waldenbooks, Hallmark, Sbarro, GameStop, and I'm sure there are others that I am forgetting about.
Game Stop seems to be going the way of 'BatteriesPlus' in the southeast, another Hallmark type/useless store that people casn really buy the merchandise online, or at a big box store.
Where I live I have one of the bigger malls in metro Ny it's alright, when I was a lil younger I used to be a mall rat at that time it was still mehh. no more of that though heck I only did it for a year and it got SOOOO boringgggg. but that is what happens when your in a town that's a suburban/city hybrid !
Most real estate professionals understand that profound changes are afoot. Don Wood, CEO of Federal Realty Investment Trust, says "there is too much retail supply in this country." The Wall Street Journal reports:
Green Street Advisor, an analysis firm that tracks REITs, has forecast that 10 percent of the roughly 1,000 large malls in the U.S. will fail within the next 10 years and be converted into something with far less retail. That’s a conservative estimate; many mall CEOs predict the attrition rate will be higher.
A report from Co-Star observes that there are more than 200 malls with over 250,000 square feet that have vacancy rates of 35 percent or higher, a "clear marker for shopping center distress." These malls are becoming ghost towns. They are not viable now and will only get less so as online continues to steal retail sales from brick-and-mortar stores. Continued bankruptcies among historic mall anchors will increase the pressure on these marginal malls, as will store closures from retailers working to optimize their business. Hundreds of malls will soon need to be repurposed ordemolished. Strong malls will stay strong for a while, as retailers are willing to pay for traffic and customers from failed malls seek offline alternatives, but even they stand in the path of the shift of retail spending from offline to online.
If you are in a major coastal city it may not be as obvious, yet. In SC on a trip, we saw a few ghost malls. S. Florida also has many in the Broward County area, especially inland, away from tourist/ ocean front shopping.
I don't think malls will ever go anywhere per se. The malls in Seattle are always PACKED. Thing is, that is SEATTLE
The main issue is this: malls are a stable of the suburbs, and guess what? SUBURBS ARE ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST
More and more people are NOT living in those awful neighborhoods that look like this:
And more people are living in sensible living environments like this:
So, the whole "let me live fifty miles from my job and just drive half an hour to get a gallon of milk" thing is dying. And with it the mall, which is the central commerce hob of the "bedroom communities" is also dying. But, malls already in urban areas, like North Gate or West Lake in Seattle, will do just fine because they do not depend on the old, tired exurbs for their income.
Brilliant. YES, I am sure that Obama wants everyone to get fired! That's what he is working toward so that he can win the election and . . . oh wait. He already did that so he doesn't need to promise more 'free things.
So why, pray tell, would he wish for all the people who work in malls to be on food stamps, UE, and Welfare?
I'm sure he has good reasons.
to make a permanent democratic base of UE welfare and food stamp recipients . Who will be told if you vote republican they will lose theri freebies.
I think more diverse flea markets and open street markets would be cool. It would help families make a little extra cash and maybe allow people ways around all of the government restrictions that keep people from starting businesses.
Could be better for the "economy" as in, better food, better quality products, more unique and diverse merchandise.
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