4 ms·

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 fello

by 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.

by 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.