4 ms·

The Crisis of Retail

29 points by kawera 10y ago

jrs235 10y ago
What will happen to these malls that close? Will they be modified and turned into multi office buildings? Would/could enough workers support the food courts? I suppose they wouldn't need quite as much parking so more satellite office buildings? More co-working spaces? What does the future hold in your opinion?
- ericras 10y ago
  Some get turned into massive offices like that. (Example: Rackspace) Some will sit empty for decades and decay. (Example: the mall outside Chicago where they filmed Blues Brothers) I think most will simply be bulldozed and rezoned.
- optimuspaul 10y ago
  They will become Amazon Distribution centers.
- ido 10y ago
  Seeing as there is a huge residential real estate shortage in most major/desirable cities, maybe they can be converted to apartment buildings...Kinda like many old factories got converted to lofts.
- cableshaft 10y ago
  One of the malls in my hometown (College Hills) kept the anchor stores (Target, Hobby Lobby, Von Maur) but tore down the middle parts, and built the more modern strip islands and parking in its place, where you can just go directly to the store you want. This previously dead space now has a Starbucks, a Coldstone, a Yankee Candle, a nice pizza place, several clothing stores and gift shops, and it's constantly busy, so it seems like they made the right choice. Here's an article of the history and some pictures of it just before it closed if you're curious: http://www.labelscar.com/illinois/college-hills-mall http://www.labelscar.com/illinois/college-hills-mall
flyinghamster 10y ago
Some other factors: - Many malls chased out the teenagers, sometimes indirectly by forcing out arcades and such that might be hangouts, and sometimes directly with bans. When they grew up, "going to the mall" was no longer even on their radar. - Some malls went crazy with outbuildings, to the point you'd hardly realize there was a mall amid the clutter. - Along that same line, a lot of people want to just dash into one store, get what they're looking for, and get out. Smaller stores in malls are generally not visible from the street.
cardiffspaceman 10y ago
In the 60's and 70's I lived in a town which didn't have any department stores except "5 and dime" stores. To get really good stuff you could go into the city or you could go to the Sears catalog store. You could literally walk into a store and browse their catalog, order stuff from a clerk behind a counter, and wait for it to come in. There were some small items like mixers on display, but not necessarily in stock. During the holiday rush, this store would be hopping. The Sears catalog store in my town was in the same small mall (think "bigger than a strip mall") as a "5 and dime" store and a supermarket. It was not the anchor store, the supermarket was. I almost relived that last week when I bought a router from Best Buy's web site and picked it up from the nearest store. Best Buy is not the only B&M chain that has this. I could imagine that to the extent retailers survive it is in this fashion or something like it. Either about the same size as now for browsing, or smaller pick-up points. And then of course we have drones and so on. Keep in mind though, Amazon is showing us how to annihilate such a model by bringing up trust problems (see "commingling").
nitwit005 10y ago
Overlooks the more basic problem that it's simply overbuilt. There are quite a few articles where CEOs point at the over-abundance of retail in general: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-retailers-have-a-ridiculous-problem/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-retailers-have-a-ridiculous-... Even as stores die, they seem to get replaced by even more stores elsewhere.
- pixl97 10y ago
  Loans are so cheap it's not surprising, what happens when interest rates stay low for too long.
beaconstudios 10y ago
the idea that makerspaces will replace retail seems bizarre. People go to these places to experiment, build and have fun - not to produce day-to-day objects for use. 3D printing is still far too expensive to be used for generating commodities too.
tomjen3 10y ago
I don't buy that the middle class don't have as much money anymore: while that would impact large purchases (house, car) most stuff you can buy today is pretty cheap - you can get a six plate dinner set for under 20 on Amazon and a couch for 100. A 40 inch HD tv will set you back less than 200 - when I was growing up such a tv would have cost you more like 200.
- danbolt 10y ago
  I agree about TVs and flatware, although I feel like furniture is one of those things where the reduced price has a lot of reduced quality.
ehmish 10y ago
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/retail-sales http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/retail-sales I'm not seeing any crisis as of yet (there's a small dip, but looking at the 10 year historical data it looks like it well within normal ranges)

29 points by kawera 10y ago

What will happen to these malls that close? Will they be modified and turned into multi office buildings? Would/could enough workers support the food courts? I suppose they wouldn't need quite as much parking so more satellite office buildings? More co-working spaces? What does the future hold in your opinion?

ericras 10y ago
Some get turned into massive offices like that. (Example: Rackspace) Some will sit empty for decades and decay. (Example: the mall outside Chicago where they filmed Blues Brothers) I think most will simply be bulldozed and rezoned.
optimuspaul 10y ago
They will become Amazon Distribution centers.
ido 10y ago
Seeing as there is a huge residential real estate shortage in most major/desirable cities, maybe they can be converted to apartment buildings...Kinda like many old factories got converted to lofts.
cableshaft 10y ago
One of the malls in my hometown (College Hills) kept the anchor stores (Target, Hobby Lobby, Von Maur) but tore down the middle parts, and built the more modern strip islands and parking in its place, where you can just go directly to the store you want. This previously dead space now has a Starbucks, a Coldstone, a Yankee Candle, a nice pizza place, several clothing stores and gift shops, and it's constantly busy, so it seems like they made the right choice. Here's an article of the history and some pictures of it just before it closed if you're curious: http://www.labelscar.com/illinois/college-hills-mall http://www.labelscar.com/illinois/college-hills-mall

flyinghamster 10y ago

Some other factors: - Many malls chased out the teenagers, sometimes indirectly by forcing out arcades and such that might be hangouts, and sometimes directly with bans. When they grew up, "going to the mall" was no longer even on their radar. - Some malls went crazy with outbuildings, to the point you'd hardly realize there was a mall amid the clutter. - Along that same line, a lot of people want to just dash into one store, get what they're looking for, and get out. Smaller stores in malls are generally not visible from the street.

cardiffspaceman 10y ago

In the 60's and 70's I lived in a town which didn't have any department stores except "5 and dime" stores. To get really good stuff you could go into the city or you could go to the Sears catalog store. You could literally walk into a store and browse their catalog, order stuff from a clerk behind a counter, and wait for it to come in. There were some small items like mixers on display, but not necessarily in stock. During the holiday rush, this store would be hopping. The Sears catalog store in my town was in the same small mall (think "bigger than a strip mall") as a "5 and dime" store and a supermarket. It was not the anchor store, the supermarket was. I almost relived that last week when I bought a router from Best Buy's web site and picked it up from the nearest store. Best Buy is not the only B&M chain that has this. I could imagine that to the extent retailers survive it is in this fashion or something like it. Either about the same size as now for browsing, or smaller pick-up points. And then of course we have drones and so on. Keep in mind though, Amazon is showing us how to annihilate such a model by bringing up trust problems (see "commingling").

nitwit005 10y ago

Overlooks the more basic problem that it's simply overbuilt. There are quite a few articles where CEOs point at the over-abundance of retail in general: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-retailers-have-a-ridiculous-problem/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-retailers-have-a-ridiculous-... Even as stores die, they seem to get replaced by even more stores elsewhere.

pixl97 10y ago
Loans are so cheap it's not surprising, what happens when interest rates stay low for too long.

beaconstudios 10y ago

the idea that makerspaces will replace retail seems bizarre. People go to these places to experiment, build and have fun - not to produce day-to-day objects for use. 3D printing is still far too expensive to be used for generating commodities too.

tomjen3 10y ago

I don't buy that the middle class don't have as much money anymore: while that would impact large purchases (house, car) most stuff you can buy today is pretty cheap - you can get a six plate dinner set for under 20 on Amazon and a couch for 100. A 40 inch HD tv will set you back less than 200 - when I was growing up such a tv would have cost you more like 200.

danbolt 10y ago
I agree about TVs and flatware, although I feel like furniture is one of those things where the reduced price has a lot of reduced quality.

ehmish 10y ago

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/retail-sales http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/retail-sales I'm not seeing any crisis as of yet (there's a small dip, but looking at the 10 year historical data it looks like it well within normal ranges)