> New York’s vacancy crisis is due to the same factors that wiped out malls and chain stores across the United States: the rise of online shopping, private-equi

> New York’s vacancy crisis is due to the same factors that wiped out malls and chain stores across the United States: the rise of online shopping, private-equity takeovers that saddled retailers with too much debt, and shoppers’ changing tastes. Could someone explain what this means? "private-equity takeovers that saddled retailers with too much debt" I asked myself, how could a 9.1% reduction in store presence cause such an avalanche of store closures? If debt is the cause, it could be that retailers stretched margins razor thin with debts on the promise of future sales, only to be stymied to the tune of 9.1%, which was enough to trip the circuit breakers and default.