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Retailing seems to be dying in US irrespective of the company: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/retail-store-closures-in-u-s-set-for-record h

Retailing seems to be dying in US irrespective of the company: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/retail-store-closures-in-u-s-set-for-record https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-17/retail-st... Couple of years ago, one of my friends bought a store at a strip mall. The store was making a loss. And the previously owners were an elderly couple. So my friends thesis was that they weren't exactly tuned into the digital presence business and it was still entirely possible to run a store in US. Two years later footfall in the mall has decreased a lot. And in spite of the digital strategy etc my friend's store hasn't worked well. Now he is not only in debt but he is also trying to sell the store. But there are no buyers.

rorykoehler 8y ago
The same is happening in Singapore. The maps have re-strategized to focus on food and drink experiences. Now people go out to make to hang out mainly
pouetpouet 8y ago
The US have too much retail space. Retail is not really dying there is too much of it. https://www.statista.com/chart/9454/retail-space-per-1000-people/ https://www.statista.com/chart/9454/retail-space-per-1000-pe... https://qz.com/1032723/theres-much-more-empty-retail-space-in-the-us-than-in-other-countries-on-a-per-capita-level/ https://qz.com/1032723/theres-much-more-empty-retail-space-i... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-...
- bunderbunder 8y ago
  I wonder if it's also a case of there being too much of the wrong kinds of retail space. If there's a retail store within a mile of our house, I'll happily walk to it and do my shopping there. Especially when it's a pleasant day outside, that's an enjoyable way to get out of the house and get a little light exercise. If the only kind of store left that sells what I need is one of the big box stores, so that going there means having to get in the car and deal with traffic and haul myself halfway across town and, seriously, ugh, that is enough of a chore that I'm already feeling vaguely annoyed just thinking about it. No thanks; I'll happily order online. And I would rather starve in the woods than drive all the way out to the nearest shopping mall.
  - hateful 8y ago
    All the stores that are walking distance from my house are: Mobile phone stores (fake resellers) Fast food/Chinese/pizza Liquor stores Gas stations 711 Laundromat Check Cashing etc... None of these are stores I'd want to browse. The alternative is the mall, which is all brand stores. Basically one big ad space. Shopping there is like running IE with 100 toolbars! Same issue with some of the big box stores now. All are restructuring to be brand specific. Best Buy? Separated by Brand now. Want to buy a headset? Get ready to go to 6 different places and only see the the brands that paid to be there (just like with Facebook, we're the product, not the customer). Toys'R'Us did the same thing before its death. It separated by brand. Which wasn't as bad in a toy store. I can see going shopping for Lego or Barbie more likely than going shopping for Corsair or Logitech. But it still feels based on who paid to get the space rather than making it easier for the customer.
  - padobson 8y ago
    What if your house was the shopping mall? When Sears, Macy's, JCPenny, etc all die, there's going to be a lot of shopping malls with big empty spaces. If those spaces were transformed to residential, it'd be trivial to walk to all the little shops currently between the big anchor chains, regardless of climate or season.
    - hateful 8y ago
      There are a few places by me where they've made apartments above a bunch of stores. I'm in NY, Long Island specifically and they all get converted to Senior or Luxury apartments that cost way more than the average person can afford. But that's getting a bit off topic. But it would be interesting to have some of those big places converted into cheap apartments. It's like you'd be getting a discount for having ads on your place of residence.
      - padobson 8y ago
        Do you have any links to the places already doing it? I'd like to know more about them.
    - 8y ago
aviv 8y ago
In a few years strip malls will be occupied only by food businesses, pharmacies, check cashing places, and urgent care clinics.
- tdeck 8y ago
  You forgot mattress stores.
  - Reedx 8y ago
    No joke. The Freakonomics Podcast had an interesting episode about mattress stores and why there are so many - http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/
  - whatsstolat 8y ago
    Nope that shit is getting disrupted. Ultimately mattresses will come from amazon.
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      After buying a Serta from Amazon and a Tuft and Needle, I will never buy a mattress again without being able to lay on it first. Disrupted? Try to fit a king foam mattress back in the box to meet return obligations when you don’t like it, before we touch on the counterfeit product issue from Amazon.
      - coding123 8y ago
        T&N just needs to know you donated it with a proof of donation. No back in the box needed.
        deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
        astura 8y ago
ccozan 8y ago
As a, maybe, counter example, in my small bavarian city they opened 3(!) new shopping malls in the last 5 years. Me being more global than the rest of the fellow locals, I was baffled.
- bobthepanda 8y ago
  The US in general is heavily over-retailed. > By one measure of consumerist plentitude—shopping center “gross leasable area”—the U.S. has 40 percent more shopping space per capita than Canada, five times more the the U.K., and 10 times more than Germany. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-...
  - ccozan 8y ago
    Ok, that explains the US situation. Of my local situation, probably the explanation is because on a 30km radius there are not really any other shopping malls ( space being filled with cows on green pastures :) ).
    - majewsky 8y ago
      It's not just your town. I live in Dresden, which already has one of the highest "shop space per capita" values in Germany, and while they've stopped opening new malls in the city (out of sheer lack of space), every new building adds more shop space. In some places, it takes just 5 minutes to walk from one Rewe branch to the next one. (Context: Rewe is a German supermarket chain. There are about 5 nation-wide supermarket chains and 5 nation-wide discounter chains.)
      - the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
        FWIW I think a big reason for this is also rent control. In Austria for instance many stores can't afford existing units because the moment a old store moves out the rent increases 10 fold. So many old stores remain in prime locations because for them still cheap rent exists and they sell old radios or similar things there because based on their rent this model still works whereas if the store were to close and be re-opened under a new owner they would not be able to continue that business model any more. These artificially low rents keep many stores afloat that would otherwise already have closed.
duxup 8y ago
What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- oliwarner 8y ago
  At least in the UK, they're more likely to get permission to convert to residential if it's long abandoned. Housing demand in cities is much higher than the normal available space on the boundaries. Carving a big box into 300 apartments more than justifies a couple of years of doing nothing with the place.
  - rtkwe 8y ago
    That might make sense for older downtown department store and street store fronts but doesn't make sense for malls and big box stores here in the US. I don't really see any way to meet code requirements like bedrooms requiring windows in those buildings.
    - wmil 8y ago
      You rip the big box down and start over. There isn't any value in the existing building
      - rtkwe 8y ago
        Maybe, not what I think of when I read 'convert to residential' though.
    - taurath 8y ago
      Honestly a planned community around an abandoned mall is a great idea. You can tear up the parking lots and put a bunch of apartment buildings. Have the mall be the "town square" with a grocery store, restaurants and other shops. Build some transit there while you're at it. I'd love to live in a place like that, and it'd be much preferable over private single family homes. Of course, being new buildings it wouldn't be affordable sadly.
Ntrails 8y ago
> Couple of years ago, one of my friends bought a store at a strip mall. The store was making a loss. And the previously owners were an elderly couple. So my friends thesis was that they weren't exactly tuned into the digital presence business and it was still entirely possible to run a store in US. Did your friends have extensive experience running such a business?
autokad 8y ago
retail sounds really perilous to me. there is little to differentiate yourself from competitors. even if you find something, others can just copy.
- landryraccoon 8y ago
  They can't easily copy your location, and that's one of the key differentiators.
simonebrunozzi 8y ago
Sorry to be pedantic, but there's (almost) always a buyer at the right price. "there are no buyers" means "there are no buyers at the price he wants to sell". Makes sense?

rorykoehler 8y ago

The same is happening in Singapore. The maps have re-strategized to focus on food and drink experiences. Now people go out to make to hang out mainly

pouetpouet 8y ago

The US have too much retail space. Retail is not really dying there is too much of it. https://www.statista.com/chart/9454/retail-space-per-1000-people/ https://www.statista.com/chart/9454/retail-space-per-1000-pe... https://qz.com/1032723/theres-much-more-empty-retail-space-in-the-us-than-in-other-countries-on-a-per-capita-level/ https://qz.com/1032723/theres-much-more-empty-retail-space-i... https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-...

bunderbunder 8y ago
I wonder if it's also a case of there being too much of the wrong kinds of retail space. If there's a retail store within a mile of our house, I'll happily walk to it and do my shopping there. Especially when it's a pleasant day outside, that's an enjoyable way to get out of the house and get a little light exercise. If the only kind of store left that sells what I need is one of the big box stores, so that going there means having to get in the car and deal with traffic and haul myself halfway across town and, seriously, ugh, that is enough of a chore that I'm already feeling vaguely annoyed just thinking about it. No thanks; I'll happily order online. And I would rather starve in the woods than drive all the way out to the nearest shopping mall.
- hateful 8y ago
  All the stores that are walking distance from my house are: Mobile phone stores (fake resellers) Fast food/Chinese/pizza Liquor stores Gas stations 711 Laundromat Check Cashing etc... None of these are stores I'd want to browse. The alternative is the mall, which is all brand stores. Basically one big ad space. Shopping there is like running IE with 100 toolbars! Same issue with some of the big box stores now. All are restructuring to be brand specific. Best Buy? Separated by Brand now. Want to buy a headset? Get ready to go to 6 different places and only see the the brands that paid to be there (just like with Facebook, we're the product, not the customer). Toys'R'Us did the same thing before its death. It separated by brand. Which wasn't as bad in a toy store. I can see going shopping for Lego or Barbie more likely than going shopping for Corsair or Logitech. But it still feels based on who paid to get the space rather than making it easier for the customer.
- padobson 8y ago
  What if your house was the shopping mall? When Sears, Macy's, JCPenny, etc all die, there's going to be a lot of shopping malls with big empty spaces. If those spaces were transformed to residential, it'd be trivial to walk to all the little shops currently between the big anchor chains, regardless of climate or season.
  - hateful 8y ago
    There are a few places by me where they've made apartments above a bunch of stores. I'm in NY, Long Island specifically and they all get converted to Senior or Luxury apartments that cost way more than the average person can afford. But that's getting a bit off topic. But it would be interesting to have some of those big places converted into cheap apartments. It's like you'd be getting a discount for having ads on your place of residence.
    - padobson 8y ago
      Do you have any links to the places already doing it? I'd like to know more about them.
  - 8y ago

aviv 8y ago

In a few years strip malls will be occupied only by food businesses, pharmacies, check cashing places, and urgent care clinics.

tdeck 8y ago
You forgot mattress stores.
- Reedx 8y ago
  No joke. The Freakonomics Podcast had an interesting episode about mattress stores and why there are so many - http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/
- whatsstolat 8y ago
  Nope that shit is getting disrupted. Ultimately mattresses will come from amazon.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    After buying a Serta from Amazon and a Tuft and Needle, I will never buy a mattress again without being able to lay on it first. Disrupted? Try to fit a king foam mattress back in the box to meet return obligations when you don’t like it, before we touch on the counterfeit product issue from Amazon.
    - coding123 8y ago
      T&N just needs to know you donated it with a proof of donation. No back in the box needed.
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
      - astura 8y ago

ccozan 8y ago

As a, maybe, counter example, in my small bavarian city they opened 3(!) new shopping malls in the last 5 years. Me being more global than the rest of the fellow locals, I was baffled.

bobthepanda 8y ago
The US in general is heavily over-retailed. > By one measure of consumerist plentitude—shopping center “gross leasable area”—the U.S. has 40 percent more shopping space per capita than Canada, five times more the the U.K., and 10 times more than Germany. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-meltdown-of-2017/522384/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/04/retail-...
- ccozan 8y ago
  Ok, that explains the US situation. Of my local situation, probably the explanation is because on a 30km radius there are not really any other shopping malls ( space being filled with cows on green pastures :) ).
  - majewsky 8y ago
    It's not just your town. I live in Dresden, which already has one of the highest "shop space per capita" values in Germany, and while they've stopped opening new malls in the city (out of sheer lack of space), every new building adds more shop space. In some places, it takes just 5 minutes to walk from one Rewe branch to the next one. (Context: Rewe is a German supermarket chain. There are about 5 nation-wide supermarket chains and 5 nation-wide discounter chains.)
    - the_mitsuhiko 8y ago
      FWIW I think a big reason for this is also rent control. In Austria for instance many stores can't afford existing units because the moment a old store moves out the rent increases 10 fold. So many old stores remain in prime locations because for them still cheap rent exists and they sell old radios or similar things there because based on their rent this model still works whereas if the store were to close and be re-opened under a new owner they would not be able to continue that business model any more. These artificially low rents keep many stores afloat that would otherwise already have closed.

duxup 8y ago

What I don't get is there are a lot of empty storefronts and places moving that I see... and retailers say the rents are still sky high for those storefronts. Is it really worth the property owners keeping them empty?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
oliwarner 8y ago
At least in the UK, they're more likely to get permission to convert to residential if it's long abandoned. Housing demand in cities is much higher than the normal available space on the boundaries. Carving a big box into 300 apartments more than justifies a couple of years of doing nothing with the place.
- rtkwe 8y ago
  That might make sense for older downtown department store and street store fronts but doesn't make sense for malls and big box stores here in the US. I don't really see any way to meet code requirements like bedrooms requiring windows in those buildings.
  - wmil 8y ago
    You rip the big box down and start over. There isn't any value in the existing building
    - rtkwe 8y ago
      Maybe, not what I think of when I read 'convert to residential' though.
  - taurath 8y ago
    Honestly a planned community around an abandoned mall is a great idea. You can tear up the parking lots and put a bunch of apartment buildings. Have the mall be the "town square" with a grocery store, restaurants and other shops. Build some transit there while you're at it. I'd love to live in a place like that, and it'd be much preferable over private single family homes. Of course, being new buildings it wouldn't be affordable sadly.

Ntrails 8y ago

> Couple of years ago, one of my friends bought a store at a strip mall. The store was making a loss. And the previously owners were an elderly couple. So my friends thesis was that they weren't exactly tuned into the digital presence business and it was still entirely possible to run a store in US. Did your friends have extensive experience running such a business?

autokad 8y ago

retail sounds really perilous to me. there is little to differentiate yourself from competitors. even if you find something, others can just copy.

landryraccoon 8y ago
They can't easily copy your location, and that's one of the key differentiators.

simonebrunozzi 8y ago

Sorry to be pedantic, but there's (almost) always a buyer at the right price. "there are no buyers" means "there are no buyers at the price he wants to sell". Makes sense?