The first sign a store is in trouble is when there are fewer staff to assist you.
The next sign is when the shelves are not kept fully stocked.
And the last sign is when they begin to scrimp on maintenance and keeping the place clean.
At some point they become prominent supports of the homosexual political agenda in a last-ditch attempt to attract new customers with a lot of money.
“The first sign a store is in trouble is when there are fewer staff to assist you.”
With respect to malls the first sign a regional mall is in trouble is when teens begin hanging in packs and displaying disruptive behavior, driving shoppers away.
The second sign is the exit of national branded stores and fill-in by low end merchants or local gift and trinket shops with little to no spending on refitting the store.
The third sign a regional mall is in trouble is empty or boarded up storefronts. When vacant storefronts hit about 20% of total stores, the tipping point is reached and the mall goes down rapidly.
To the degree consumers are shopping bricks and mortar they prefer neighborhood strip centers where they can exit their cars and walk quickly into a destination store. Declining household incomes and safety fears have ended the days of leisurely wandering through large indoor shopping malls.
In December 2013 Simon Properties, the largest retail landlord in the US, announced it is spinning off 44 of its malls and 54 strip centers into a separate company. Another manifestation of the economic recovery.
You got it, and I am seeing each of these already. Many places looked trashed now.