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“Facilities” may be grander language than the reality. I know of one new facility near where I grew up which was a new mall that could never find tenants. It sa
by teeray 5y ago
“Facilities” may be grander language than the reality. I know of one new facility near where I grew up which was a new mall that could never find tenants. It sat vacant for a decade. Amazon leased the whole thing and uses it as a warehouse. The parking lot is filled with their last-mile delivery vans.
- mixmastamyk 5y agoYes, they’ve taken over vacant buildings in our area as well. Hard to complain about that but some folks still do.
- loonster 5y agoMourning the lost potential. There is a grocery store near me that sat vacant for several years. Finally a storage company took it over. It's a good thing that something is there, just wish it was an actual grocery store.
- massysett 5y agoMy area in suburban Washington DC USA is filled with old grocery stores. Just within several miles of my home, one is now a trampoline park, one is an Amish market, and one is an LA Fitness. My theory is that between huge warehouse stores, newer huge supermarkets, Dollar General, and Walmart (even non-supercenter ones) selling lots of food, and online shopping nibbling at the margins, marginal supermarkets are getting pushed out. There's another supermarket not far from my house that I doubt will make it. I have no idea what it's like near you but where I am I don't think I'll be seeing any new supermarkets.
- bobthepanda 5y agoThis is how it's been though. Before the supermarkets and malls there were just markets and corner grocery stores and Main Streets. But those mostly existed in walkable cities, and when they started being depopulated a generation ago the new suburban supermarkets and department stores and malls ate their lunch. When the flow started going back into cities again during the '00s, a bunch of firms like Walmart and Target thought they would have a go at operating smaller "urban" stores but that seems to have had mixed results. Retail's a tough business.
- vidarh 5y agoI don't think I'll visit a large supermarket again more than a handful times in my lifetime. I get my groceries delivered from a company without retail outlets. It seems likely big supermarkets are doomed. The company I use (Ocado) have started licensing their tech worldwide, and includes mostly robotic warehouses.
- loonster 5y agoMy local grocer was bought out by a competitor 2 miles away. They figured that most of the customers would shop at the 2 mile away store instead of the 2.7 mile away supermarket. They closed the store and maintained the lease. They were willing to sublease to anyone as long as they weren't a grocery store. With the lack of an anchoring grocery store, the small stores around it died.
- ehsankia 5y agoA whole mall+parking lot is probably as grand if not grander than I was imagining an average facility to be.
- teeray 5y agoOh yeah… poor word choice on my part. I’d actually say it’s pretty damn creative given that this was unproductive space for 10 years and was well on its way to being a dead mall. I guess I meant to say that “facilities” implies new construction in the reader’s mind, but in fact, they’re being more clever.
- throwawayboise 5y agoDid they build more loading docks? Most malls I've seen don't have a lot of big overhead door loading docks, which would be essential for a distribution center.