Bellingham, the ugly truth.... (Vancouver, Ferndale: townhome, asbestos, area)

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

I think there are malls across the US where the lease is more affordable and therefore there is less impact from online competition. My comment about ours stems from it's managements greed in super high lease/rents....it's in a constant state of tenant influx and outflux as many of it's retailers run on the ragged edge of staying profitable.

The cross border shopping is laughable, unless one is making some major purchases it doesn't really pencil out to much savings and then if it does, customs may want in on the "action" when you return. I had figured the savings amounted to ~$3/hour awhile back when all the Canadians were swarming the Bellingham Costco for our milk and gas.


Name calling, how adult of you Bartonizer. Put yourself in our shoes for a moment and maybe you'll understand:

Several generations of your family grew up in your hometown, as did your friends and their families. Some magazine decides it's the "best place on earth", and in pour the people. You work hard and rise above the average, still able to afford the rapidly increasing costs of living, but watch your friends, co-workers, and other family members forced to move away for jobs that offer actual living wages and retired friends/family members priced out of their homes they own by sharp increases in property taxes. Then, add insult to injury in the things you used to enjoy....camping....boating.....fishing.....mounta in biking....hiking.....end up "all reserved", "boat launch full", "parking full" "sold out" "campsite full" and so on. Then, "but wait there's more" like a bad infomercial, your workplace can't attract employees because even with well paid job offerings the housing cost has become so bad that only the top 13% of our income earners (doctors, lawyers, managers, CEO's or someone with $250K to "buy into" the housing market) can afford the average listed home price....so you work even harder and longer hours with less help than before. Would you be happy?

Name calling? When? You're the one who has been complaining on the same thread for a dozen years, insulting everyone who likes Bellingham and theorizing about their motivations and not believing what they say. In this case, you're the one who called me a "land maggot" for moving to town and liking where I live, even though YOU'RE the one who hates it and wants to move away- but won't.

You're the one who likes to dish it out but isn't capable of addressing counterpoints. You're the one with no experience living anywhere else, all kinds of unrealistic expectations, an awful attitude, and sense of entitlement about your hometown and what it owes you. And yet you're still here. Again, I feel for your frustration, and know what it's like to be stuck. And I feel for people who want to be here, but can't afford it or are forced out due to escalating prices. But it's hard to sympathize with someone who displays such obnoxious nativism, and spends over a decade hating a place but won't move.

[west seattle gal]

We have been in Bham for 4 years now and still love it. Life is uncomplicated, there are adequate cultural offerings and easy access to nature, my commute to Mt Vernon is stress free and scenic, & our kids are happy. No complaints.

[kynight]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

We have been in Bham for 4 years now and still love it. Life is uncomplicated, there are adequate cultural offerings and easy access to nature, my commute to Mt Vernon is stress free and scenic, & our kids are happy. No complaints.

That's nice. What line of work are you in? What's the main difference between Mt Vernon and Bellingham? Would you recommend Mt Vernon for a family to live in?

[kynight]

Originally Posted by bartonizer

The future of the mall EVERYWHERE is bleak. The decline in retail is one of the most heavily covered economic stories of the last five years. If you're making the point that Bellingham's economy should be concerned because of this fact, that's reasonable- though it's certainly worth mentioning that the drop in Canadians shopping at Whatcom retailers has been a) tied into the strength of the US dollar, which has been a disadvantage to BC shoppers for five years, and b) balanced out by more people coming south of the border to vacation.

Why are Canadians crossing the border? Fewer of them are shopping at Whatcom stores
https://www.bellinghamherald.com/new...228299199.html

If you're trying to make the point that a few empty stores our mall is an indicator of something else, like the general appeal of the area, you're reaching. It is in no way unique to Bellingham that the mall has experiences several closures from nationwide chains going out of business. FYI, the closest mall nearby is actually Cascade Mall, just over 20 miles south of us, and it has far more closures than Bellis Fair. Again, this is a very well-covered issue globally, but especially domestically. Have you been paying attention to the trend?

Retail Sales Declined in December at Fastest Pace Since 2009
https://www.wsj.com/articles/retail-...er-11550151440

BC is a slightly different story, with completely different retailers and supply chains. Comparing several new malls in the Vancouver metro is an apples and oranges comparison, but retail in the province is still experiencing negative numbers.

Why In The World Is Retail Struggling In Vancouver?
https://www.styledemocracy.com/retail-in-vancouver/

Metro Vancouver retail sales down; flat housing market, money laundering to blame, expert says
https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/08...il-sales-down/

Vancouver retail struggling in comparison with Toronto and Montreal
https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/2...n-cities-2019/

Here are a few more to ponder, but you can easily do your own homework by googling the subject. This just scratches the surface.

The 2018 Retail Apocalypse, in 6 Charts and a Map
https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/12...s-maps/579112/

The Fall Of The Mall And How To Make Them Rise Again
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanz...em-rise-again/

These haunting photos of the retail apocalypse reveal a new normal in America as Sears clings on after closing hundreds of stores
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-...-photos-2017-3

Shopping mall decline: What malls are doing to stay open
https://www.apnews.com/4c59ecbf899345d3b1c576b52992db4e

Here’s A List Of 68 Bankruptcies In The Retail Apocalypse And Why They Failed
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/...e-infographic/

So as online shopping grows, you expect brick and mortar shopping in person to disappear? Will the same happen for grocery stores as more and more people buy their food online? How about McDonald's.. is the drive thru going to become something exclusively for uber eats? I guess the milk man will also become revived, ebay will revive itself with bids for online brides who show up to the winner's doorstep and the new drone by apple will be able to wipe our butt.

[rkcarguy]

Pretty wild lightning on Saturday night! I'd just come out of the Lakeway Fred Meyer and got in my car. It was raining so hard I had to just sit there. About 90 seconds later lightning struck one of the light poles in the parking lot and burned the whole string of them out (that are closest to the building and run north-south).

[kynight]

According to Saturday night it looks like storms just as bad hit his area. A guy was almost struck 12' from where one struck. There was an accident and 76 gas station flooded, was pretty bad.

[pugetriver]

After 10 years we finally moved out and couldn’t be happier. Bellingham is a very strange place. Don’t recommend it at all. Wasted our family life here. Awful weather, poor, and pretty old city. Downtown smells like urine. Nothing to do. Rain is drizzling but constant for a couple of months, gray skies for most of the year (except summers 2-3 months). Food is not good, majority of people are fat (no offence), low IQs, quite a few homeless people/communities here. Cold and depressing. People here are odd, honest advice, stay away from it. You will regret it. Cheers!

[bartonizer]

Does anyone else think that it's weird that Bellingham has its own online trolls, including what appears to be the same person or persons starting accounts just to trash the place?

[kynight]

Bellingham becomes old really fast.

Bartonizer, why would someone do this? Are they angry at the city?

[PartIrish]

Bartonizer, I've ask the same question, particularly when one of the trolls creates multiple new identities to furiously bash a city they claim to have left. It's bizarre, really. It is not difficult to spot the identical word patterns here with several of these posts, but really, why go to the trouble to create a whole new profile just to obsess over a plucky little city in the PNW?

To the troll: I guess since the troll spot under the bridge in Fremont is taken, you have taken up residence on the C-D Bellingham thread!