Posted on 07/10/2014 12:44:05 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
Hundreds of shopping malls across the U.S. have been forced to shut down following years of debilitating declines in consumer traffic.
In many cases, the shuttered malls are left to decay for years before developers or local governments raise the funds to bulldoze or renovate the space.
Pseudonymous photographer Seph Lawless traveled the country for years to find these forgotten malls and document their decay from the inside.
The photos he captured are haunting and apocalyptic, featuring dead trees and abandoned shopping carts against landscapes of broken glass and crumbling walls.
He compiled the photographs in a new book, "Black Friday: The Collapse of the American Shopping Mall," and shared some of them with Business Insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We have been reduced to soviet style art consisting of nostalgic photos of empty shops and crumbling edifices.
bump
human have a curiosity about old things. Look at the Acropolis, Rome ... and yes I was trying to think of a leftist person to throw in there for laughs
I suppose watching America’s decline has a sort of morbid fascination. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
We can see it coming, but feel powerless to stop it.
All they have to do is check their pockets dude.
As bad as the economy is, the demise of large shopping malls is actually the result of the changing nature of retail.
First there were catalog sales, then there were big city department stores, then there were suburban malls, now there is a combination of big box stores and online sales.
The article mentioned that many of the malls were in low income areas hard hit by the economy. Once an area decays to the point of being low income, malls close because there aren’t enough local shoppers to support them, and theft rises.
Se la vie.
Baba Wawa!
too late, right??
The economy was thriving, malls and retailers of all kinds were doing exceptionally well in the mid-to-late 1990s. That’s when the Conservative Rebellion led by Congressman Newt Gingrich neutralized the communistic programs of KKKlintoon. For all practical purposes, Gingrich was running the show and prosperity was palpable. Kommie Klintoon and his Kronies were reduced to mere figurehead status for the latter half of the decade. I recall paying only 78 cents per gallon for gasoline proving by Conservatism fuels robust free enterprise.
Friend wife and I were just talking about this phenomenon today. I observed how the atmosphere/ethos/ambiance/clientele of a once-vibrant, “happening” mall changes once the neighborhood where it is situate goes 3rd-world. No one can afford to keep such a place open when the clientele would prefer to be at Dollar General.
What brought it up was that Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall, which has been around for 40 years, just ADDED several stores. There’s a neighborhood that’s not going to go downhill anytime soon. If it ever does, well, “there goes the neighborhood”.
I like it. Very loser-friendly.
I’d rather go to a rodent petting zoo than a mall, which are usually filled with obnoxious rude people, sickos, gangsters and and assorted mental cases..
They aren’t skipping the mall for Dollar General in some cities and towns, in many cases they are skipped for amazon.com and such.
Excellent observation.
c’est la vie
Disco haircuts - this mall has everything! - I see the new Oldsmobile is in early this year. Apologies to the Blues Brothers but that was filmed in a mall that was closed years ago - not anything new it seems!
” where it is situate goes 3rd-world”
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Well, the Philippines is considered 3rd world, but has some of the largest malls in the world, and they are all thriving.
A new one is going up near Cebu city. It is rumored to be the largest in the country, which also has the 3rd largest in the world. The two largest in Cebu are too big for me to negotiate.
I agree and add to it malls were doomed to fail when all allowed city bus routes along their paths. Many refuse to frequent them due to this one issue.
Have they not connected the fact that they don’t carry any thing but cheap, EXPENSIVE chinese tasteless JUNK?
I’m 66, 5 ft 118 lb, Conservative, Christian, You think I’m going to wear clothes that are made for a HOOKER? That is what is in the malls in Memphis. Add in the hispanics/black culture and there is not much I would by.
Unlike the first woman, I have very discriminating taste in clothes.
Laura Bush is more my taste in clothes.
Besides the danger of NO GUNS being allowed.
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