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[King Mystery]

Thousands of mall-based stores are shutting down in what's fast becoming one of the biggest waves of retail closures in decades.

More than 3,500 stores are expected to close in the next couple of months.
......
According to many analysts, the retail apocalypse has been a long time coming in the US, where stores per capita far outnumber that of any other country.

The US has 23.5 square feet of retail space per person, compared with 16.4 square feet in Canada and 11.1 square feet in Australia, the next two countries with the most retail space per capita, according to a Morningstar Credit Ratings report from October.

Visits to shopping malls have been declining for years with the rise of e-commerce and titanic shifts in how shoppers spend their money. Visits declined by 50% between 2010 and 2013, according to the real-estate research firm Cushman & Wakefield.

And people are now devoting bigger shares of their wallets to restaurants, travel, and technology than ever before, while spending less on apparel and accessories.

As stores close, many shopping malls will be forced to shut down as well.

When an anchor store like Sears or Macy's closes, it often triggers a downward spiral in performance for shopping malls.

LINK - The retail apocalypse has officially descended on America

There's also slideshow showing the current state of some of these stores and malls.

 

[Dreez]

Return it all to the trees.

 

[wesleyshark]

Amazon is too good.

 

[Glassboy]

Amazon

 

[Living the Dream]

Can't say I've ever visited any of those in the last 10 years

 

[Despera]

apocalypse? more like the natural evolution of retail.

 

[norm9]

Some of the malls that have closed in Southern California in the past few years are incredibly sad. The ones barely still open are weird marketplaces that I wouldn't want to spend more than a few minutes in.

Beyond the loss of income for stores and the options for shoppers, I'm most sad about the lack of a place for young people to gather and be social. The end of gathering places will only push more kids into the digital meeting space, which is a poor replacement.

 

[Onaco]

Scorpi-- oh... Amazon.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?

 

[Mesoian]

Return it all to the trees.

Witht he size of some of these facilities, make new national parks. Why not?

 

[bigkrev]

Millions of jobs will be lost in this

 

[CrimsonSquall]

Future happening right before our eyes

 

[badrang]

Can't say I've ever visited any of those in the last 10 years

I've never been in any of those stores lol.

 

[FyreWulff]

Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?

Their massive expansion was very recent, and they did a lot of it by building across the street from Walgreens. I'm guessing they found out a lot of those locations, the Walgreens there was barely hanging on itself.

 

[Rival]

I think it has more to do with mismanagement in a lot of the stores. Retail is perfectly capable of thriving. Some of the companies listed above though are just awful. Have you seen the inside of most sears, radio shack, or J.C. Penney's? These stores are complete shit now. When I was a kid though they were good.

 

[fredrancour]

was sears the the chain that was basically burnt to the ground for the profit of its new owner? ii can't remember which retailer it was that got screwed like that

Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?

competition? there are so many places where multiple drug stores wind up close together. i have to imagine that some of the places where i've seen cvs and walgreens coexisting on the same block are unsustainable.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

Some of the malls that have closed in Southern California in the past few years are incredibly sad. The ones barely still open are weird marketplaces that I wouldn't want to spend more than a few minutes in.

Beyond the loss of income for stores and the options for shoppers, I'm most sad about the lack of a place for young people to gather and be social. The end of gathering places will only push more kids into the digital meeting space, which is a poor replacement.

Big problem of suburbia if your only option is malls to be social.

 

[sazzy]

what's going to happen to all those ugly concrete eye sores

 

[Guevara]

What's amazing to me is:

Amazon is still pretty bad at selling clothes. Product pages are a mess of multiple sellers, multiple size hierarchies, inconsistent pricing, inconsistent discounting, whole categories understocked.

When Amazon nails it, game over.

 

[Curler]

Return it all to the trees.

If only. Demolishing buildings cost money. Selling the property costs money. In densely populated areas, empty spaces are just made into more housing.

 

[xxracerxx]

What is Family Christian? Is that where you take your daughter to get a purity ball dress?

 

[fluffydelusions]

I basically just go to Target and Walmart for everything I don't get on Amazon

 

[Sectorseven]

I like Staples. It's one of those places you don't go to regularly, but are glad its there when you need it.

 

[Rocketz]

How the Radio Shack in my small hometown in Ohio is still open to this day I have no idea.

 

[Dommo]

And with that, LFO's Summer Girls somehow becomes even more dated.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

There are that many RadioShacks left?

 

[GutsOfThor]

was sears the the chain that was basically burnt to the ground for the profit of its new owner? ii can't remember which retailer it was that got screwed like that



competition? there are so many places where multiple drug stores wind up close together. i have to imagine that some of the places where i've seen cvs and walgreens coexisting on the same block are unsustainable.

I was just about to post this. There is a CVS and Walgreens directly across the street from one another here.

 

[Zoe]

I don't think JCP ever recovered from their Apple approach blunder.

 

[Lombax]

Where am I going to go to try stuff on / check out in person prior to ordering it from amazon!?

 

[Diablos]

what's going to happen to all those ugly concrete eye sores

They'll turn into "massage" parlors

 

[Ogodei]

What is Family Christian? Is that where you take your daughter to get a purity ball dress?

General Christian swag store, i went there Black Friday as i had a coworker in Secret Santa who was pretty religious. Think stuff like "Christian stationary."

They also had a trailer for God's Not Dead 2 playing on loop...

 

[jwk94]

Hardly. JCP and Payless are the only ones in the first half of that list that seem large.

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?

I mean recently isn't CVS Pharmacy offered inside Targets?

 

[norm9]

They'll turn into "massage" parlors

One of the big malls from the 80s/90s here turned into an open air fish market. In the middle of the mall.

 

[zma1013]

Retail Store?

 

[Jason Frost]

How many Walmarts will replace them?

 

[shira]

Hardly. JCP and Payless are the only ones in the first half of that list that seem large.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Goodbye malls, an american icon.

...in other news, I guess clothes shopping will be relegated to walmart and target and what have you.

 

[Dr. Black Jack]

and yet (set to MAX)

 

[FromAtoX]

The writing was on the wall for a least ten years, but they refuse/couldn't change and adapt. Many jobs will be lost, but nothing stops progress.

 

[Pagusas]

I dont know where they got their information from, but its old. Payless cut the store closing in 1/2, they estimate 400-500 closings now.

 

[ShyMel]

The photos of some of those malls were depressing.

 

[Ban Puncher]

Where do teenagers and slackers hang out now?

 

[TylerD]

They'll turn into "massage" parlors

Or churches!

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

With most retailers price-matching Amazon and Amazon now charging tax in my state, I still give most of my business to local retailers. Why wait two to three days (or more, since I'm not a Prime subscriber) for something to arrive in the mail when I can pay the same price and get it instantly?

 

[TheTylerRob]

Where do teenagers and slackers hang out now?

The internet is cheaper

 

[zma1013]

Where do teenagers and slackers hang out now?

The Internet

 

[SoRuffShoNuff]

People using stores as places to view/try merchandise and then shopping online is really hurting brick and mortar stores. I always try to buy in store as long as the prices are reasonably close to what I can find online.

 

[Stinkles]

Time to dump all my Hot Dog on a Stick futures.

 

[kirblar]

I don't think JCP ever recorded from their Apple approach blunder.

Yup. They screwed themselves.

You know who's not on that list? Kohls. Dick's. The issue isn't department stores, it's mall-anchored department stores.