Posted on 03/20/2014 2:56:28 PM PDT by DallasBiff
I say that the quickest way to get rid of a mall is to add bus stops.
From the article Excellence linked to:
“Contrary to popular belief, online shopping didn’t kill malls. As of the fourth quarter of 2013 only 6% of all U.S. retail sales were done online. Sales are migrating away from brick and mortar stores but the demise of lesser malls is due to a confluence of consolidation in the retail industry as a whole, the death of the smaller specialty store “hang-outs” and the rise of retail Death Stars like the Mall of America or the Mall at Short Hills.”
6% of retail sales online is not the reason malls are closing.
Here’s an example of why I shop online. Hubby has been diagnosed with fairly late stage kidney disease and has to cut out most of the sodium and potassium, also told not to skip meals and to eat ‘quality’ protein. So we are making almost everything from scratch, including tortillas and things due to sodium. I wanted to buy divided containers that we could freeze meals ahead of time in and he could microwave at work. He takes his breakfast and lunch this way.
Visited Wal-Mart - they had 2 of what we wanted, Target had 3, the kitchen store had none. I gave up and started calling to find out - no store had more than 3. Okay so do I drive to 10 or more stores since we were looking to freeze at least a month’s worth of food? Nope, CLICK and they were at my door 2 days later via Amazon.
I tried, but I’m not wasting gas driving all around Albuquerque running in each store for 2 or 3 things. It’s becoming more and more common to find things like that and I just don’t have time for the hassle.
I frequented Crestwood Plaza since the ‘50s when it was a strip mall with Scruggs Vandervort and Barney on one end and Sears on the other.
It lasted longer than Northwest Plaza which was larger and has now been demolished. Crime and gangs were the culprit there.
St Louis has been under Democrat control since 1949. The failed experiments with taxpayer money are too many to name. Forced busing, urban renewal, housing projects, etc. They never learn.
Now Crestwood will be a “Lifestyle Center”, like Northwest Plaza. What, exactly, is that?
I can count on the fingers of my left hand, how many times I’ve been to a mall and my left hand has fewer fingers than my right hand has.
Chris Rock sad he grew up in a town with two malls; one where the white folks shopped and one where the white folks used to shop.
Been there hundreds of times, but not in maybe 25 years. I had no idea it was this bad. When I was a kid, the Crestwood 66 Drive-In was across the street, and there was one of those old fashioned McDonalds nearby. A shame.
Back in the 80s Brownwood, Texas got a mall. The main anchor store was a K-Mart.
An example of a new mall that is succeeding is The Grove in Los Angeles, California.
No roof and no walls. It’s an outdoor space that’s landscaped and hardscaped with fountains, a stream, fish, plants, music, and lights. All the cafes have “creekside” patios. It’s fun to just walk and hang out, even if you don’t need a new pair of running shoes. Kids love it.
In other words, it’s a new “old” town square. Or a retail Disneyland with free admission (except for parking.)
Once again, Los Angeles does it first and does it better. Get with it, all you cities with dead malls! Google “The Grove” and build your own. They will come!
Yes, just as a lot of the downtown areas before them were compromised by crime, gang activity, incivility, etc., so the same us happening to the malls shoppers and suburban residents fled to. Many downtowns have made comebacks to one extent or another. But because they aren’t on private property, they have problems with things like panhandling and people camping that malls don’t.
There are some brick and mortar establishments, bars and restaurants, hair salons, health clubs, for example, that can’t be replaced by online retailers.
What’s a mall?
When I said “not on private property”, I meant the sidewalks and stuff. Here in the Puget Sound area, I think that’s the reason that you don’t see people panhandling, sleeping, etc. in malls but you do see them in downtown streets, especially at night, bedding down, shooting up, etc.
I agree that some malls, like U Village in Seattle and Alderwood in Lynnwood, are classing themselves up with lots of public art, fountains, appealing seating and common areas. The stores in those places are pretty high end. I would still prefer to go to a Nordstroms in downtown Everett, but those days are long gone, so Alderwood may be more appealing than the flagship store in downtown Seattle.
I think that the drug problems in downtown Everett, and the attendant crime a d incivility has spooked a lot of retailers and their customers.
Or that idiot who killed that guy for texting on the phone. We have some dumb idiots in America.
We have incredible malls in Maryland. Annapolis Mall is great. Arundel Mills Mall is fantastic. Columbia Mall is a nice mall. We are very lucky to live here.
Yes, well, that might work in an area with LA's weather but I am not convinced many would have shopped there if LA had had the weather they had in the NE and midwest this winter.
Yes, well, that might work in an area with LA's weather but I am not convinced many would have shopped there if LA had had the weather they had in the NE and midwest this winter.
An additional factor in downtown store closings was lack of parking.
I went to Crestwood mall starting in the early 60”s. In the late 60”s early 70’s it was the place to shop in southwest ST. Louis county. However it does not lie near an Interstate. It’s on Watson Rd. (old route 66) so people by-passed it and went to Chesterfield mall, or north to Manchester Mall off 270. In it’s day it was bigger and better then South County Mall. I was there a lot.
The San Antonio Center in Mountain View, CA, used to be an outdoor mall. It wasn’t as cozy as what you described, but there it was.
I was down there a month ago, and the place has changed a lot just in the last few years. Lots of (overpriced) apartments going up where retail space used to be.
Wow! I remember going to this mall in the 1980s and 1990s. I am surprised it has collapsed given that there are far worse areas of the St. Louis metro.
Me too, Crestwood was my Mall of choice since the mid-80’s. I work now about 1 mile away (also on Watson Road) and it is the pits to have watched its decline. It got smaller and smaller (re: the # of stores) and then, empty. Barricades are at the at the entrances. It is depressing. The City of Crestwood (and to a lesser extent) Sunset Hills, have been hit hard by the death of the Mall, and many other local businesses have gone under or have moved due to reduced traffic. Starting a week or so ago, there are signs that say Real estate Auction on the property.....
MOgirl
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