Posted on 12/16/2016 12:45:26 PM PST by Red in Blue PA
Nordstrom (JWN) shares tumbled Friday after JPMorgan (JPM) downgraded the department store, another dire sign for the dying mall industry.
Nordstrom was cut to underweight from neutral and had its price target cut to 48 from 55 by the investment bank
Analysts, citing discussions with management, said the upscale department store didn't have enough "multiyear silver bullets" to boost sales growth. Further, the increasing costs to handle online traffic and online shopping is continuing to cannibalize the company's brick-and-mortar sales.
"Management cited full-line brick and mortar traffic levels as the worst since 1972 with the accelerating model shift from brick and mortar to online yet to reach equilibrium citing 'no easy answer' to re-stimulating foot traffic," JPMorgan analysts wrote in their note.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
“I have not done malls for many years. The traffic is the main reason.”
It’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore. - Y Berra
post of the day...
I love mall shopping.
“People are using the retail stores as a sort of showroom, going and trying things on, checking them out and then going online for the cheapest price.”
I needed to replace the dog’s $22 harness last week and went to Petco. They didn’t have the size I needed in stock.
The online price was $8 cheaper and had free shipping.
It arrived in 3 days.
In the northeast many major Malls have become “diverse”
White women and their children no longer feel safe going anytime but during the mid day.
Hence their decline.
...
I was speaking to a woman yesterday of a diverse background. She didn’t want to go to the mall either because of crime.
Ordering from your computer is more convenient than driving to the mall....I look at those over stocked store and see future community colleges; some with easy access could be urgent care centers....all kinds of possibilities for most malls as they fail their mission in today’s life styles.
True. Willowbrook in Wayne, NJ used to be nice, but as it borders Paterson, there is a heavy minority presence and a large Muslim element. Same with Garden State Plaza which while not bordering Paterson is 5 mimutes away. It’s also a 15 straight shot in from the GWB and the bus terminal which ferries in New Yorkers for tax free shopping. The Short Hills Mall, catering to one of the wealthiest areas of the country had a carjacking and murder a few years back courtesy of the fine youth of Newark.
Why pray tell.........?
My favorite places to shop are always larger towns and smaller cities downtown areas with unique, privately owned businesses.
I don’t think showrooming is Nordstrom’s problem. I think it’s a combination of malls getting a bad rep, women’s apparel in the dumper, and Nordstrom just not stocking what folks want. I went to their website just now got a quick look. Didn’t have anything that tempted me other than a new (to me) fragrance. And that’s not something I’m going to buy for the first time online.
Indoor malls are dying due to large number of young blacks who pack up in the hundreds often starting fights and other crime.
Women, families, and older people with actual MONEY feel threatened (rightly so) and stop going.
“Whatever happened to Woolworth’s? And Kresge’s, Grant’s, JJ Newberry, etc. That entire category of dime stores seems not to exist anymore.”
They’ve been replaced by “Dollar” stores. Inflation.
I grew up in the same kind of harsh climate. It's true we had to go outside and experience some midwestern weather to go from store to store in the old-style "downtown." I didn't mind that one bit!
IMO you can't get more charming, or more authentic, than what we had in the days when "downtown" was the place to go.
Each store had its own unique sights and smells, and none were cut from a cookie-cutter mold like most mall chain stores today.
Even the chill air was bracing (and you only had to dash a few yards to get to the next store). All that may be gone forever ... I'm so nostalgic, I could cry.
“Whatever happened to Woolworth’s? And Kresge’s, Grant’s, JJ Newberry, etc. That entire category of dime stores seems not to exist anymore.”
They’ve been replaced by “Dollar” stores. Inflation.
The ridiculously high mall prices combined with easy free exchange/return internet policies are probably the main reasons. It’s just too easy to shop from home in many cases. Especially for men’s clothes.
Out here in Southern California, I make almost all my big purchases on line, not only for free shipping, but for not paying the state, city, and county, 10% of the sale price for the privilege of spending money they have already taxed at 13%.
There’s one very successful mall in Olathe, but that’s the only one I know of.
One of the nice things about traveling used to be finding new and different stores in different cities. It’s much harder now, because you have to find the old downtowns where rents are still reasonable (too often because of “undesirables”) rather than just following the big advertisements in the hotel magazines. :)
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