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US malls seem to have a strong aversion to carrying anything other than gifts and clothing for some reason. I suspect those apartment renters would be easier t

by arbuge 5y ago

US malls seem to have a strong aversion to carrying anything other than gifts and clothing for some reason. I suspect those apartment renters would be easier to attract if there was a more diverse range of goods on offer as in other countries, including full-size grocery stores. That would create a more complete immediate neighborhood and remove the need to drive out regularly for essentials.

acdha 5y ago
It basically comes down to sprawl: for the better part of a century the American model has been oriented around someone driving in a car, usually solo. That encourages businesses like grocery stores to favor big facilities because they don’t pay the extra cost of the roads, cars, etc. and their customers are probably driving anyway. Why pay mall retail space pricing if you don’t have to? Where you do see this, it’s in areas with more foot/bike/transit biking and the stores tend to be upscale since they can afford the higher real estate costs.
cuddlybacon 5y ago
I think that's because those items are the only ones that work to a mall's advantage. There are four ways of providing suburban style shopping that I can think of: * malls * strip malls * big-box stores * big-box stores which oppose a strip mall I think malls main advantage over the other archtypes is that it makes it easiest to evaluate multiple stores before committing to your choice. That is handy for clothes and gifts. For anything else, that isn't handy. As a shopper, why then go to a mall drive to a mall, pay for parking, and then spend a few minutes navigating to get to your desired store when you could instead go to the same store in a strip mall, park for free, and enter the store in less than a minute after leaving your car?
- bobthepanda 5y ago
  This is a US-only distinction. Malls in Australia often have grocery stores and pharmacies to generate foot traffic. The mall/strip-mall distinction is purely artificial. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to distinguish CVS and Walgreens in the same mall, the same way you can make a distinction between H&M and Zara.

by arbuge 5y ago

acdha 5y ago

It basically comes down to sprawl: for the better part of a century the American model has been oriented around someone driving in a car, usually solo. That encourages businesses like grocery stores to favor big facilities because they don’t pay the extra cost of the roads, cars, etc. and their customers are probably driving anyway. Why pay mall retail space pricing if you don’t have to? Where you do see this, it’s in areas with more foot/bike/transit biking and the stores tend to be upscale since they can afford the higher real estate costs.

cuddlybacon 5y ago

I think that's because those items are the only ones that work to a mall's advantage. There are four ways of providing suburban style shopping that I can think of: * malls * strip malls * big-box stores * big-box stores which oppose a strip mall I think malls main advantage over the other archtypes is that it makes it easiest to evaluate multiple stores before committing to your choice. That is handy for clothes and gifts. For anything else, that isn't handy. As a shopper, why then go to a mall drive to a mall, pay for parking, and then spend a few minutes navigating to get to your desired store when you could instead go to the same store in a strip mall, park for free, and enter the store in less than a minute after leaving your car?

bobthepanda 5y ago
This is a US-only distinction. Malls in Australia often have grocery stores and pharmacies to generate foot traffic. The mall/strip-mall distinction is purely artificial. There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to distinguish CVS and Walgreens in the same mall, the same way you can make a distinction between H&M and Zara.