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"We Are Extremely Over-Retailed" Picturing The Death Of America's Malls
Zero Hedge ^ | 01/05/2015 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 01/06/2015 7:33:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Starting in the mid-1990s, "the mall genie was out of the bottle," says one mall analyst, "and it was never going to come back." While about 80% of the country’s 1,200 malls are considered healthy (vacancy rates of 10% or less), that compares with 94% in 2006; and more than 30 million square feet of malls are more than 40% empty, a threshold that signals the beginning of what one one analyst called "the death spiral."

 

As The NY Times reports, like beached whales, dead malls draw fascination as well as dismay, "nobody ever thinks a mall is going to up and die," but as the following images show - dead or dying they are.

 

“It’s depressing,” Jill Kalata, 46, said as she tried on a few of the last sneakers for sale at the Athlete’s Foot, scheduled to close in a few weeks. “This place used to be packed. And Christmas, the lines were out the door. Now I’m surprised anything is still open.”

“I have no doubt some malls will survive, but major segments of our society have gotten sick of them,” said Mark Hinshaw, a Seattle architect, urban planner and author.

“It is very much a haves and have-nots situation,” said D. J. Busch, a senior analyst at Green Street. Affluent Americans “will keep going to Short Hills Mall in New Jersey or other properties aimed at the top 5 or 10 percent of consumers. But there’s been very little income growth in the belly of the economy.”

“We are extremely over-retailed,” said Christopher Zahas, a real estate economist and urban planner in Portland, Ore. “Filling a million square feet is a tall order.”

“Everybody has memories from childhood of going to the mall,” said Jack Thomas, 26, one of three partners who run the site in their spare time. “Nobody ever thinks a mall is going to up and die.”

Nearly 15 percent are 10 to 40 percent vacant, up from 5 percent in 2006. And 3.4 percent — representing more than 30 million square feet — are more than 40 percent empty, a threshold that signals the beginning of what Mr. Busch of Green Street calls “the death spiral.”

Industry executives freely admit that the mall business has undergone a profound bifurcation since the recession.

“Our business is more regional and high-end focused,” he said. “There are gradients of dead or dying or flat, but anything that’s caught in the middle of the market is problematic."

 

“The mall genie was out of the bottle,” Mr. Simmons said, “and it was never going to come back.”

Read more here...



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: bhoeconomy; ecommerce; mall; retail; shoppingmall; trends
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To: lacrew

We lost Sears and I bet JC Penney isn’t far behind. Online shopping is too convenient.

Four Seasons Mall in Greensboro NC is a good example. Full of nice stores and you can still get a cap busted in yo azz in the parking lot.


21 posted on 01/06/2015 7:50:24 AM PST by AppyPappy (If you are not part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: PapaBear3625

Yep, but they’ll be called all sorts of vile names for trying to protect their businesses and customers from the results of public transit.


22 posted on 01/06/2015 7:51:56 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: SeekAndFind

Installing a bus stop ruined my childhood mall.


23 posted on 01/06/2015 7:52:41 AM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: MrB
the biggest reason is “teen crime”
Bingo - we have a winner! Violent "utes" closed the Midtown Mall in Rochester NY years ago.
Then the thugs followed their victims out to a suburban mall a few miles away and it too was forced to close.
Said thugs are now working on destroying their third mall in another suburb.
24 posted on 01/06/2015 7:52:53 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: SeekAndFind
“Everybody has memories from childhood of going to the mall,” said Jack Thomas, 26, one of three partners who run the site in their spare time. “Nobody ever thinks a mall is going to up and die.”

I remember plazas where multiple storefronts were reached via sidewalk vs. the enclosed mall. Seems to be a return to such complexes as malls wither away.

25 posted on 01/06/2015 7:53:13 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: AppyPappy

Metrocenter Mall in Jackson, Mississippi has always been open, which continues to amaze me.

26 posted on 01/06/2015 7:53:49 AM PST by struggle
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To: Dilbert San Diego

So ....you have obviously been to MacArthur Mall in downtown Norfolk.......


27 posted on 01/06/2015 7:55:04 AM PST by tgusa (gun control: deep breath, sight alignment, squeeze the trigger .......)
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To: oh8eleven

“Keepin’ it real, yo!”


28 posted on 01/06/2015 7:55:50 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: SeekAndFind
Interesting Stuff....

DeadMalls.com

deadmalls.com/
 
The stories and history behind the great era of store chains that defined retail.
The history of many now dead malls. Pictures, articles, etc.

 

29 posted on 01/06/2015 7:56:11 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

empty malls are the most visible signs of Obama’s war on the American economy. When you don’t have a job and have given up looking for a job, you don’t have money to go shopping at the mall. No shopping, no spending, no sales, stores go out of business.


30 posted on 01/06/2015 7:56:21 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: SeekAndFind

No one has money for shopping during a depression.


31 posted on 01/06/2015 7:56:49 AM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: SeekAndFind
Looks like the Laurel Mall in Hazleton PA. The Steamtown Mall in Scranton is also dead.
32 posted on 01/06/2015 7:56:58 AM PST by angcat
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To: SeekAndFind
Read it and weep.

A compendium of dead malls at www.deadmalls.com.

-PJ

33 posted on 01/06/2015 7:57:26 AM PST by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: GreyFriar

How long has these been going on though?

Are these dead malls only occurring the past six years, or have they started on this trend longer than that?


34 posted on 01/06/2015 7:58:10 AM PST by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: SeekAndFind

A prime indicator of the destruction of the middle class.


35 posted on 01/06/2015 7:58:30 AM PST by headstamp 2
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To: MrB
but the biggest reason is “teen crime”.

Correct. The problems with most malls are the bus stops right outside the entrance.

Buses bring in teens from the hoods - and "That's All, Folks".

36 posted on 01/06/2015 7:58:49 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: SeekAndFind

That’s what happens when malls are made accessible via public transit.


37 posted on 01/06/2015 7:59:35 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: SeekAndFind

My long time ex-gf’s boss was a major mall developer, he sold 90% of his malls to Simon around 10 yrs ago, He must have seen the writing on the wall.
Did get to attend some great mall opening parties at the time though.....and a lot of great Red Sox and Bruins lux box tix also.
Ah, the good old days....


38 posted on 01/06/2015 8:00:09 AM PST by mowowie (`)
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To: SeekAndFind

How many retailers have gone out of business in the past 10-15 years? That photo shows good old Loehmann’s, the original high-end discount store. Fortunoff was originally a jeweler selling high end jewelry at steep discounts.

Macy’s absorbed multiple dept store chains x the USA somewhere in the late 90s. In the DC area, not one of the Metro area department stores of the mid-20th century is still in business. The economic boom stores have mostly closed, i.e., Borders, Circuit City, even Radio Shack.

Looks like we’re heading back to having “Main Street” with its Mom and Pop shops, with WalMart/Target, etc., and the high end malls.


39 posted on 01/06/2015 8:00:25 AM PST by EDINVA
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To: Dilbert San Diego
I don’t know who in management decided that people want to hear the thump thump thump of rock and rap as they shop.

And then they wonder why the "ghetto" crowd is hanging around. Start playing country/western or classical music, and see what happens!

40 posted on 01/06/2015 8:01:04 AM PST by Disambiguator
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