Posted on 08/13/2017 10:16:57 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
I worked for a company that was consulting on a potential project to "de-mall" an early '70s indoor mall in east New Orleans, right before Katrina. Once I saw the *large* demographic study on the area I knew that they were trolling for foreign investors that didn't know the region well. The graphs showing racial demographic shift and crime stats were no surprise to me, but as you observed, nobody would mention it. Then Katrina came along and killed all investor interest in the area. Some green investors caught a break, somewhere.
The clothing that Sears sells is cheap junk, at least compared to the items I remember buying at Sears 20 years ago. Thin material, doesn’t last. I used to buy five or six good quality tops at a time and they lasted a long time. Now you see thin material and not as much variety in style and color. Plus the walk thru the long aisles is getting to be too much as I get older.
Yep. Ghetto monsters killed malls. Is it racist to not want to be near them? No, it is common sense. No one wants to compromise their safety.
http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2017/03/ford_moves_1800_employees_into.html
A-class malls survive because the control the shoping space. Now crowds of ferals allowed and disturbances get shut down immediately.
We had a local mall which was s nice place to visit — until they added a bus stop which allowed people from the “inner city” a way to get there.
Part of it was to facilitate inner city people being able to apply for jobs at the mall. But the minorities turned the place into something white people didn’t want to go to. So it finally closed.
We have in the neighboring town small strip malls off HWY 51 in Millington, TN, the older buildings on Navy Rd. now sit empty. Most of the new shops are not for the average shopper, specialty crap. For under 30. Only 1 store is for any age Petco. But Wal-Mart competes better on prices and now carries higher end pet food.
Beauty, Nail, fast food is the most common. They left open a perfectly nearly brand new period looking empty hardware/lumber store that would have made the same new strip mall. More fast food places went up, some carrying the exact same foods. Mostly chicken. While Chili’s is losing customers over COLD food, Appleby’s closed for that reason.
Why would I drive 2 hrs round trip into Crime ridden Memphis to go to a ethnic centered,street walker clothes, for under 30 yr olds, and don’t carry my small size 5 shoes? And they don’t want my GUN in their crappy stores. No Christmas, just happy holiday. I can order from Amazon on Prime and get most of what I need, then all I have to do is go to the grocery store.
I thought they were converted to indoor walking emporiums.
All the crap from China too. Bad service, to loud, crime riddled, high priced. Try adding in nothing but walking for seniors, as these malls don’t carry clothes for our age group. Try adding in a few doctor’s offices, PT places, real message places. Instead of eyebrow lacing/waxing or store that cater to under 25. Where you feel safe from unsupervised, immoral, ill mannered brats. And NO MEN in women’s bathrooms.
Upscale malls do very well as they tend to have all the yuppie amenities. Apple Store, Starbucks (along with another coffee shop that is funkier), trendy eateries and other entertainment options like IMAX theaters with reclining seats, neon lit bowling allies and upscale billiards.
It is the lower class malls that are suffering, for obvious reasons.
Been known for years here. The most certain way to kill a mall is to add a bus stop. It’s not a question of if adding the stop is a death punch to the mall but when.
The outlet mall in my town was purchased by a church ! Big campus, lots of multi-purpose rooms...
Bingo. A major reason for both the rise and decline of malls is government... especially local government ... but state and federal also.
University Urban Planning Departments have been churning out urban planners who have been taught to mindlessly replicate Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg where the City share of the sales tax revenue made city share of property taxes irrelevant. (Urban Planners are typically people who didn't have the IQ to succeed in an architecture, engineering or science class but still wanted to build something.)
So cities used UDAG (Urban Development Action Grant) and other Federal Money and IRS blessed tax exempt bonds to attract and subsidize an over building of retail space.
Then they zoned these malls so they could have only retail space or entertainment space that paid sales or entertainment taxes. The malls were not allowed to rent space to services that did not bring in taxes.
But then, as the malls declined, the urban planners doubled down on intervention, trying to help when the best help would be to get out of the way.
Like the folding back page of Mad Magazine...
Malls are for women. These’s nothing there for men. My mall is experience is sitting in the bench reading my Kindle and watching people in hoodies walking by. My 9mm is always locked and loaded.
For later viewing
This kinda reminds me of an article I saw back in the 90’s about how record stores could redefine themselves to continue to be thriving businesses. It has this same “multi-use” paradigm.
Fact is, malls typically are difficult to get to and mostly only cater to kids that want to hang out. And that was BEFORE the internet presence.
And when we lived in Seattle, which we left six years ago because it was such a traffic quagmire, I was prohibited from going near a mall during the Christmas shopping season because my wife was afraid the traffic would give me an aneurysm. And here in Louisville, the traffic around the big mall here is WORSE. It’s barely worth it without the internet. It is an exercise in futility now that the internet offers far more items and for far less money.
and if you want the “cultural stuff”, you can just visit your local “small town downtown” area in your community. In the Seattle area, you have places like Freemont, Ballard, California Ave., Capital hill, etc. In louisville we have places like Bardstown Road, Baxter ave and several others. And downtown here is not congested so even 4th street is nice.
Malls had their time, but it has gone. They’ve been slowly dying and the explosion of selection and convenience via internet buying has done them in.
That sums it up.
Amazon prime (and stuff like Jet.com) will destroy pretty much all brick and mortar that does not depend on personal service - like restaurants, barbers, car repair, etc.
And when you have places like amazon selling and delivering (with free shipping) large items like washers, mattresses and the like, a lot of non-mall places simply won’t have the clientele to stay in business. I think the new paradigm will be “cute small town downtown” centers with restaurants, bars, hair cutters, antique stores, etc., “hardware” type areas with car repair, tires, body shops, etc. And small places to supply those other needs for people without internet access.
And because people will work from home more, have less reason to leave the home for restaurants, entertainment and shopping, there will be less wear on cars and, frankly, less reason to have so many, effectively impacting the car business and those businesses supporting them, including repair, fuel and accessories.
This is exactly why my REIT investments have been flat for two years now. I’m planning to drop both of them when they mature early next year. Malls around here have become empty feral hangouts, mostly.
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