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Retail's Death Rattle Grows Louder
rickackerman.com ^ | June 2, 2014 | Rick Ackerman

Posted on 06/11/2014 6:47:47 AM PDT by dennisw

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To: jsanders2001

Window shopping leads to buying. And when you don’t see the future as bright, you are not motivated to window shop. It means less trips to the mall.


21 posted on 06/11/2014 7:16:57 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: Dilbert San Diego

I said in 2008, before Obama screwed Hillary over, that as soon as Hillary was in office the media will start reporting on how hunky dory everything is. Now I believe it’ll be the opposite if a republican replaces Obama and it’ll be the republicans’ fault, especially if they take the senate.


22 posted on 06/11/2014 7:17:43 AM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: dennisw
There is 47 square feet of retail space per person in America. This is 8 times as much as any other country on earth. This is up from 38 square feet in 2005; 30 square feet in 2000; 19 square feet in 1990; and 4 square feet in 1960. If we just revert to 2005 levels, 3 billion square feet would need to go dark. Does that sound outrageous?

This information -- which reflects something I've been saying for years -- kind of contradicts the author's main point. The retail sector isn't facing a catastrophe because the economy is in bad shape. It's facing a catastrophe because a huge portion of the industry was completely extraneous and occupying retail space that never should have been built in the first place.

23 posted on 06/11/2014 7:18:01 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: CIB-173RDABN
You forgot one sign ...

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.

24 posted on 06/11/2014 7:19:50 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: Pietro

100% correct.

I am amazed that someone can write an article as long as this on the topic of the decline of brick and mortar retail and not manage to use the words on-line or Amazon. The guy is either an idiot or intentionally downplaying a key issue.


25 posted on 06/11/2014 7:21:12 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: cuban leaf

Tractor Supply is awesome, I wish I had one close to me.


26 posted on 06/11/2014 7:22:26 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: RIghtwardHo

My husband and I went to the mall this past Sunday and the place was PACKED. I’m in Texas and the economy must be better than most other states doing the reporting. We couldn’t even find a place to park. At 3 in the afternoon, we had to wait for a table at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall.


27 posted on 06/11/2014 7:23:35 AM PDT by tuffydoodle (Shut up voices, or I'll poke you with a Q-Tip again.)
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To: FreedomPoster

I love one of their T-shirts:

Farmers: Because SOMEBODY has to feed you people.


28 posted on 06/11/2014 7:23:58 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: cuban leaf

> Window shopping leads to buying. And when you don’t see the future as bright, you are not motivated to window shop. It means less trips to the mall.

True. We are barely scraping by and I know so many others are too. Pre-Obama I made a very good living and never had to worry about paying bills. Now everytime I get the mortgage bill I wince. We are also on the Obama diet plan and buy substantially less groceries than we used and leisure items like laptops or activities like vacations, forget about it. While O and M jet off around the world eating the finest food and staying in the finest hotels The People suffer just like Jarrett said they would with her “payback” comment. The next 2 1/2 years will be the longest in my life..


29 posted on 06/11/2014 7:25:22 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: tuffydoodle

Well Northpark Mall is one of the smallest malls in the state and its where all the rich Highland and University Parker’s go. Of ourselves they have money. They’re the elites.


30 posted on 06/11/2014 7:27:45 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

Well Northpark Mall is one of the smallest malls in the state and its where all the rich Highland and University Parker’s go. Of course they have money; they’re the elites.


31 posted on 06/11/2014 7:29:08 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: jsanders2001

To be real clear, I’ve been posting this for over a year: This nation will not survive Obama’s second term. And I don’t care which party is in charge from 2015 on. We will not survive. And Obama is not the whole problem. The electorate is the main problem, but from that sprouts the two parties we now use which are basically both a mix of socialism, fascism and cronyism.

I saw right through Obama in 2008 and was so confident back then that we were gonna suffer that, as a 45 year resident of seattle with a six figure job, I bought a small farm in central KY TWO WEEKS before the 2008 election.

And to drive my point home, I thought McCain was going to win.

Obama’s only made it far more clear to those of us paying attention just how bad it is. And it is very bad indeed. I said in 2007 that we may be in for Great Depression II. It sounded crazy even to me, but it is what the data showed.

We are in the beginning stages of a 100 year economic storm - and it is international. The only reason it’s taken as long as it has is they have kept us warm by secretly burning the furniture. But even the furniture is about gone.


32 posted on 06/11/2014 7:40:24 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: Dilbert San Diego

At one of the dying malls here in SC, one guy has had a dinner theatre / mystery show going for a while. I’d like to see it stay on. Its the only reason I go to that mall.

Most everything else is Amazon or another on line retailer. I miss pro camera shops though.


33 posted on 06/11/2014 7:41:41 AM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.q)
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To: dennisw

Retail is shrinking in part due to online sales.


34 posted on 06/11/2014 7:42:24 AM PDT by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: CIB-173RDABN

“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.


35 posted on 06/11/2014 7:46:17 AM PDT by Soul of the South (Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)
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To: dennisw
What occupied most of mall retail space? Women's clothing, stuff to decorate the home with, men's clothing (a much smaller category than womens), electronics.

Women are telling themselves (or their husbands are telling them) "I have enough clothes, I have enough shoes, we can defer redecorating". Men are telling themselves "Our HDTV is good enough, I have enough tools".

Food prices are going up, which reduces what can be spent on crap from China. Energy prices are high. Salaries are stagnant.

36 posted on 06/11/2014 7:49:44 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: CIB-173RDABN

You got it, and I am seeing each of these already. Many places looked trashed now.


37 posted on 06/11/2014 7:51:54 AM PDT by CodeToad (Arm Up! They Are!)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
In the Obama Era, bad news such as listed here, is just not reported.

If a Republican were president, I bet that we would hear much more about business failures and struggles of major retailers.

Yep, if a Republican was President, the drivebys would magically rediscover homeless people, like they always do.

38 posted on 06/11/2014 7:53:02 AM PDT by Marathoner (What are we waiting for? Where are the Articles of Impeachment?)
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To: Soul of the South
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.

As a precursor to that, a sign that a mall is about to go downscale is when they allow a bus stop in their parking area, allowing people, especially teens, from downscale areas to get there.

39 posted on 06/11/2014 7:55:10 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: RIghtwardHo
AAPL has the highest sales per square foot of any retailer in the world.


40 posted on 06/11/2014 7:55:18 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch
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