Posted on 05/31/2017 7:07:46 PM PDT by markomalley
Between 20% and 25% of the nation’s shopping malls will close in the next five years, according to a new report from Credit Suisse that predicts e-commerce will continue to pull shoppers away from bricks-and-mortar retailers.
For many, the Wall Street firm’s finding may come as no surprise. Long-standing retailers are dying off as shoppers’ habits shift online. Credit Suisse expects apparel sales to represent 35% of all e-commerce by 2030, up from 17% today.
Traditional mall anchors, such as Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Sears, have announced numerous store closings in recent months. Clothiers including American Apparel, Bebe and BCBG Max Azria have filed for bankruptcy. The report estimates that around 8,640 stores will close by the end of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I see the loss. Loss of jobs for one thing. Personally I still like to have stores around to see and feel the merchandize. Of course I buy a lot online. But I do not wish brick and mortar busnesses to die.
[I for one have no desire to walk a mall searching for things....]
How many germs have built in malls over the years? They get little or no fresh air - an epidemic waiting to happen.
I go to the mall maybe 2-3 times per decade.
“More likely they will rebuild with something entirely new.”
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Yes——two new shopping areas near me———high end and no enclosed space-——you have to go outside to get from store to store.
They are doing very well.
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Too high of a maintenance cost when thinking the expected lifespan of a condo and a lack of windows. Imho. It’s a shame. Could end homelessness (well excuses anyway) with them? I saw a tv show called Abandoned America, I think, episode on malls. Some have been converted to many different churches.
That’s how many mall started out. Large retailers next to each other. The space between them was covered later. Spans that were large enough were filled with smaller spaces, roads became large hallways.
"Pop-up retail" is the newest fad here.
Throw in a farmer’s market and you’ve got something.
I quit going to the mall here when I caught myself looking out for good shooting positions and asking self what I would do if someone started shooting.
The will of the people is expressed by where they choose to spend their money.
One holdout is the “rich” mall where the well heeled do their shopping at higher end stores.
Only way mall stores can compete is to offer cheaper prices than Amazon. People will flock to a bargain.
Of course, those mall owners would have to lower the rent too and not be greedy.
Here in my regional town (within Germany), some guys bought a property and twelve years ago built a mall....just adjacent to a railway station and figured that if you build it....’they would come’.
Like you say....numerous vacancies are obvious. I’d say of the forty store-fronts in the fairly modern structure...fewer than 15 have a business operating. There are two eateries still left....both a ‘mom-and-pop’ type operation.
So what did the brilliant guys do? They tossed their original plan....brought in fresh capital, and are building an extension onto this for 40-percent more building structure. I put the survival rate of this at no more than four years.
When I was quite young malls were just becoming popular and visiting them was pretty neat. When I travelled with my parents we would shop at a mall and see many different stores, many of them local retailers. Every mall had a local flavor.
As malls became very popular the lease prices increased and the local stores were pushed out due to high rents. The national chain stores flooded every mall and soon they all looked and felt the same. Every mall was basically a clone. Except for the convenience of shorter distances from home, multiple malls around cities were all the same.
I think this is another of the many reasons malls are now going under.
Another possibility is the retailers were burdened with energy cost increases for Hvac and insane code expenses? Just saying the will of the people sure seems steered sometimes.
At least hereabouts the Mall tends to be the more expensive way to go shopping.
To me that would be great. Theater, doctor’s and dentist’s office attached, Senior Center included, grocery store and pharmacy — good deal......all under one roof.
The local mall here has lost 3 of its 5 anchor department stores. The whole mall needs to be bulldozed and the site re-developed. It’s less than a mile from a recent $1 billion development, and a $900 million development is going in diagonally across a surface intersection so it isn’t like it is in a troubled part of town.
That's not true in America today. No one wants to buy stuff made in China. Town's never wanted Main ST bankrupted by big box stores. The courts forced a change on us just like they force all other aspects of our culture.
Why isn’t the article talking about the root cause? It’s because of the feral cats that are taking over the malls.
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