20 Facts About The Great U.S. Retail Apocalypse That Will Blow Your Mind

The Economic Collapse ^ | March 9, 2014 | Michael Snyder

[DesertRhino]

But Obama manages to keep the public talk locked on Ukraine, global warming, homos in Russia, bombing Syria,,,, ANYTHING except the facts in this story, or of Obamacare.

[cuban leaf]

I agree with the general premise of the article, but I should mention that in my area a Nordstrom Rack and a new costco were opened.

Problem with stuff like this article is that they sometimes forget to include the stores that are doing better. The US government had to buy out GM, but Ford was (and is) thriving.

[cuban leaf]

#14 Video rental giant Blockbuster has completely shut down all of their stores.

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Apparently their buggy whips have fallen out of favor.

[gleeaikin]

Actually GM bought back a lot of it’s shares and last I heard was doing reasonably well. If the big money boys cannot sell their wares, perhaps they will lower their own salaries and pay their workers better so they can afford to buy. Also, people have so much STUFF that we have a 700 mile yard sale in the mid south/central, and another 70 mile yeard sale somewhere else.

[Organic Panic]

Let’s not forget while we are all forced to buy obamacare Sandra Fluck will get free birth control.

[cuban leaf]

Also, people have so much STUFF that we have a 700 mile yard sale in the mid south/central, and another 70 mile yeard sale somewhere else.

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Yep. We have one that goes right through our town here in KY. It’s the “400 mile” yard sale. It’s lame, and I’ll tell you why: In Seattle, where we lived for decades, we discovered that the affluence level was such that nobody wants people’s throwaways. The last year we were there, pretty much every non-food item we got was from garage sales, craigslist or estate sales. And estate sales are the BEST. We bought items for pennies on the dollar. We considered it fiscally irresponsible to buy many items new.

Now fast forward to KY. Rural KY is, in some ways, like living in a third world country. People are definitely poorer here. And the real estate taxes and cost of living are so low that you can live on ridiculously low income. But it means a huge part of the population shops at garage sales and “Peddlers’ mall”. This results in a peculiar supply and demand formula.

i.e. stuff is WAY too expensive at garage sales to even bother. Some stuff is more expensive than new, and a fair amount of it (much worse than in Seattle) just needs to go to the dump.

We stopped wasting our time.

[tcrlaf]

This simply isn’t possible. MY TV has been telling me for years that the Obama economy is fantastic! Why, just look at the DOW!!
(look at anything else, though, and you might be a racist.)

[jimsin]

RECOVERY SCHMEKOVERY....HASN'T THIS DUNCE EVERY HEARD OF THE CONCEPT OF TRENDING? YEP...TRENDING FOLKS... YOU HEARD ME..... TRENDING DAMMIT!...

YOU SEE GENTLE READER WE ARE KNEE DEEP IN THE ERA OF HUXLEY HUCKSTERING LIBSPEAK ...CURRENTLY, YOU DO NOT ACTUALLY EFFIN HAVE TO BE IN A RECOVERY ALL YOU EFFIN HAVE TO DO IS JUST SAY YOU ARE TRENDING TOWARD A RECOVERY SOMETIMES IT'S CALLED 'BENDING THE ARC' .....IT'S PARA NORMAL....AND I FOR ONE THINK IT'S THE WAY TO GO. FOR IF YOU JUST SAY IT'S SO ....THEN BY DAMN IT MAGICALLY BECOMES SO...OR SOMETHING.

....THINK ABOUT IT YOU WANT YOUR ARC BENT? THEN VOTE DEMOCRO...I RELEASE THE BALANCE OF MY TIME...

[LittleBillyInfidel]

Much of tthis list is anecdotal as consumer spending has shifted to online purchasing. We don’t even go to PetSmart anymore, since the kitty food is cheaper in online bulk. I can’t remember the last time i went Christmas shopping at a mall, yet, my spending is the same. I remember the kids at Blockbuster, two years before my favorite store’s demise, asking me not less than three times every time I was at the checkout to sign up for their online services. One day, I finally got annoyed and asked “you DO realize that your trying to sell away your own job, right?”. He replied “oh no, Blockbuster just wants you to have the option of finding other movies that we don’t carry. “Uh uh.

Another anecdote... At least our area restaurants are still really packed on the weekends...for now... B-HO’s carnage has still yet to be seen as it’s masked by social support.

[kearnyirish2]

One thing that isn’t mentioned in relation to the death of America’s middle class is the impact the male unemployment rate is playing. When it became acceptable to discriminate against white/Asian men in college admissions (and hiring/promoting), the women who took many of those jobs have also foregone children (for a variety of reasons, whether by their choice or the prospective mates’ choices); the American middle class is literally dying out as no successive generation is born (though we have imported some foreign replacements). What use does the average American have for so many things that were staples in our youth, such as diapers, children’s clothing, toys, etc.?

As long as these demographic trends continue, one needs look no further than the Xanadu mall here in northern NJ to see the future of retail: A massive mall, completed years ago (complete with indoor ski slope), that never opened, while in its shadow every Saturday at the Meadowlands Flea Market Americans sell their household goods and tools of their former trades to imported replacement Americans who pay strictly with the cash with which they are paid.

[raybbr]

Um... What was that?

[Vermont Lt]

It’s the rewind fees that kept me away from blockbuster.

[ClearCase_guy]

Boon: Forget it. He’s rolling.

[GAFreedom]

I must disagree with this fellow. Internet shopping does account for the “great retail apocalypse”. When you can get all your media online, why would you shop for it? I can’t count the last time I went to a Radio Shack, or an office products store, or J. C. Penny, or Sears. A lot of jobs at Wal-Mart and Target are being replaced by automation. The low prices offered by internet retailers and the big-box stores murder anything offered by small or medium businesses.

Frankly, what strikes me as bogus is #14, about Blockbuster. Who even goes to Blockbuster anymore? You have the internet, you have Netflix, and you have Red Box, all of which provide faster and cheaper service with less hassle. Don’t have to worry much about late fees.

Unless you’re running a hobbyist place or some specialty thing, having retail space is just plain getting to be obsolete. I wouldn’t start any new retail business with it. I’d keep it internet only, save on capital outlay.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

That graph you posted is terribly designed, makes a 4% drop look like 100%. The employment situation is bad enough when presented accurately, does not need a misleading graphic to make the point.

[The Working Man]

We live in Central Kentucky and for that matter way out in the ‘sticks’. Nearly all of our discretionary shopping is done on-line. One of the biggest changes we’ve noticed over the years is that our impulse buying has nearly stopped. It’s only when we do our bi-weekly grocery shopping that we purchase items that we really don’t ‘need’ but decided to buy anyway.

If our particular shopping habits are becoming more common then it is no wonder so many stores are closing down. No demand means no money coming in equals going out of business. It’s as simple as that.

The real question here is: What is the future for retail business in the long and short-terms? My own guess is that we will see more on-demand manufacturing for products as they are needed.

My own latest personal example was I needed a new desk. My old one was a mass production piece that was made of inferior materials and covered in veneers and ‘paper’. My new one although being smaller that the old one is a sturdy hand-made piece made out of walnut by a local craftsman. I paid a nice sum for it and I can say it will last a long-time and probably be handed down to one of my grand-children later in this century.

[silverleaf]

the facts of the story are the amount of dollars left in the personal/family budget after paying the new “affordable care” premiums and deductibles- the insecurity and personal economic cutbacks that come from not being able to afford any health insurance at all-the reality of living with a smaller job and smaller paycheck-the reality that food bills are up and utiltity bills are borderline frightening and while it is now the obama norm, it hasn’t gotten easier to pay $3.50-$4 per gallon of gasoline

heating our house to a comfortable temperature has now become a luxury item in our budget, so in winter months we just don’t have much extra to spend - seldom go to the mall or shopping anywhere

but I think with obamacare, the democrats finally outdid themselves in raiding the family budget. where did they think most people would have all that extra money?

[kearnyirish2]

“One of the biggest changes we’ve noticed over the years is that our impulse buying has nearly stopped.”

That is more related to a decline in discretionary funds (at least in my case, and many people I know). Retail is in trouble because the consumers are in trouble.

Online shopping is killing brick & mortar stores because as people run out of money, they can get great deals not just for new merchandise but also secondhand (on Craigslist, for example - an online flea market). My wife has scored great deals both buying and selling there, and the “legitimate” economy plays no role in it at all.

[kearnyirish2]

Even worse, the tight budgets have led to a catastrophic decline in the birthrate; retailers have to hope the porous borders let in enough replacement Americans (though these are usually more shrewd with their money). As more and more people are living paycheck to paycheck, the only people I see freely spending are 1) government workers, particularly tenured teachers and others with seniority (protection from layoffs) and 2) wealthy childless people. There are simply not enough of them to keep all those stores in business.

Living in a dying state (NJ), there are a lot of great secondhand deals around as Americans liquidate and flee. Even Wal-Mart can’t compete with the low prices, and older American goods in good shape are much more sturdy than the cheap Red Chinese garbage peddled in stores.