Tough times in retailing.
It’s just anecdotal evidence, but at a few malls in my area, there are more than a few vacant storefronts.
I know Obama and his boys tell us unemployment is under 5%, things are great, and all that. But I get the feeling something else is going on.
And I’m not wanting to just bash Obama and his economic policies. There could be other factors, such as more people doing more online shopping, which is causing brick and mortar stores to close.
And I hate to say, but some malls draw a less than respectable clientele, shall we say, which in turn scares off legitimate customers.
I’m not sure about sporting goods, but I’m certain that online shopping is doing a real number on retail stores. I’m one of those women who loved shopping and going in all the stores just to look; but now I almost never go into a department store or a mall. It’s just too much walking, for one thing; and places like Amazon make shopping online so easy.
I will go to a department store to buy shoes, now; that’s about it.
-JT
“I hate to say, but some malls draw a less than respectable clientele,”
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Malls on bus routes from the cities are dreadful.
Don’t go near them Saturday night. I did once,walked in,saw the roaming kids,and walked out-—never to return.
.
Online sales are booming while brick and mortar is getting slammed. I work for a company that helps companies keep their web sites and mobile apps running at peak performance. This shift to e-commerce retail is really helping us.
When one of our big malls here in north Jersey was reduced to renting to a tattoo parlor (they also had vacant space), the writing was on the wall. Over the years I’d watched more and more of the kiosks move towards food of one type or other (though they have a full food court), and more and more foreigners walking around (without bags - they seem to be visiting it as a museum to the now-dead American Dream). Cellphone stores abound as well.
They don’t have a problem with “youths”, as far as I can determine (I haven’t been there in over a year); they are just in an area of tech-savvy people who save significantly by shopping online or don’t shop at all because of the horrible economy. I watched a Third World “replacement American” from Asia trying shoes on with bare feet in a big retailer there (he was wearing sandals); that about summed up what is happening here in north Jersey.
Gotta be rough running a small business in Cali, isn’t it?
Damn near impossible up here in the boonies, with a $7.50 minimum wage, no water tax, no speedrail tax, no Moonbeam bureaucracy and vindictive anti-business bent.