I just got my hair cut and walked around the mall waiting for my appointment. I don’t need to read this article to see the official employment numbers are BIG FAT *ING LIES.
2 out of 10 shops in the mall were closed and boarded up. One bookstore was gone, and the other was reduced to calendars only. All restaurants are gone. The food court is missing 3 out of 10 fast food vendors and most of those that remain are not franchise...they are mom and pop sandwiches and similar. Half the big name anchor stores are gone and boarded up. The little stands in the middle of the walkways that sell things like sunglasses, watches, jewelry, and cellphones are all gone except two cell phone vendors. As I walked around I noticed there were no people and no business being conducted. I even saw employees sitting down in the shops watching television. I talked to a guy in the mall and he said the mall shut off the heat and AC for good and the shops were expected to install and operate their own heat and AC.
I’d say the mall has about 2 years to go before it completely shuts down. Maybe less.
It isn’t just the big malls, I haven’t seen a strip mall near me with even a 50% occupancy rate. Every business quarter there seem to be even fewer stores, and NO new ones opening at all.
In Ga., Food Lion is closing over 100 stores in the coming months.