• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

The retail apocalypse has officially descended on America

Status
Not open for further replies.

molotrok

Member
There is a construction boom in the central FL/ Orlando area. Both stores and real estate. I wonder if this is a bubble in the making.
 
I feel like Amazon is not necessarily cheaper like it was a few years ago. Often if you look for sales and deals BB is easily within the same price range of Amazon, especially now that Amazon is forced to charge sales tax in most states.
Prices being equal, Amazon is still the better deal because of its Prime credit card that gives 5% cash back. Yes, Best Buy also has a credit card, but the difference is that Amazon sells everything, whereas it's not worth it to open a card just for electronics.
 

13ruce

Banned
Power of webshops, supermarkets and clothing stores hopefully stay. I hate sending clothes back and forth i rather fit in a store and buy the right thing on the spot.

Same for supermarkets rather go to the store and get my supplies there.
 

Lum1n3s

Member
This why Trump is in office so he can make sure these stores don't close and we don't lose jobs for the hard working American.
 
I worked in Tysons Corner Mall for about 10 years and I never understood how people would say malls are dying because that mall gets packed until I moved to Denver and visited the mall here on a weekend and it looked like there was barely anyone in the mall.

I don't get why the mall here charges people to park in the garage when they're barely people shopping in Cherry Creek mall, it just looks like the company that owns the mall is trying to get it shut down.
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
My local mall got some huge arcade-like thing built in an old anchor store slot this year. I say arcade-like because this monstrosity is probably more than half filled with various gambling-type games like the claw games, stacker games, and those things with the push-bars where you drop a coin in to try to get it to land in such a way that the push-bar knocks as many other coins off the ledge. What actual games they do have are absurdly overpriced, and you can't even use quarters. Instead, you have to purchase a card and refill it when needed.

Apart from that, there are also a number of private karaoke rooms, a full bowling alley, and a little restaurant.

I've only walked through it once, and I'm not sure it seemed nearly populated enough to compensate for all the electricity all the running games had to be consuming.
 

riotous

Banned
The malls in the Seattle/Bellevue and surrounding cities have all been expanding for years. Malls built across from malls, malls getting renovated, huge outdoor areas built, etc.

It's interesting considering Amazon is here lol.
 
I worked in Tysons Corner Mall for about 10 years and I never understood how people would say malls are dying because that mall gets packed until I moved to Denver and visited the mall here on a weekend and it looked like there was barely anyone in the mall.

I don't get why the mall here charges people to park in the garage when they're barely people shopping in Cherry Creek mall, it just looks like the company that owns the mall is trying to get it shut down.

They're charging for parking cuz they need revenues to come from somewhere.
 

pelicansurf

Needs a Holiday on Gallifrey
I literally don't shop in person for anything with the exception of video games every now and then. Soon I will cease going to the supermarket as well.

Also high end malls are still a thing. Its shittier malls with no selection that are taking a hit.

Look at all this free time!
 

kirblar

Member
I worked in Tysons Corner Mall for about 10 years and I never understood how people would say malls are dying because that mall gets packed until I moved to Denver and visited the mall here on a weekend and it looked like there was barely anyone in the mall.

I don't get why the mall here charges people to park in the garage when they're barely people shopping in Cherry Creek mall, it just looks like the company that owns the mall is trying to get it shut down.
...did you just never go to Springfield Mall before it shut down? :p

Even prior to the mixing bowl in the late '90s/early '00s it was decimated.
 
Don't forget about Staples closing about 70 stores, selling off their Europe and non-NA stores, and cutting a lot of positions inside the store. The place is an absolute massacre right now.
 

lenovox1

Member
well Payless is not surprising. what a dumb business model. payless shoes? how are they supposed to make any money?

seriously though that's a rather ominous graph.

Payless sustained itself for decades before Wal-Mart improved their quality standards and took their lunch.

People still want to cheap clothes made with cheap labor (see: H&M), so that's on them.
 
Haven't been to the mall for a while, usually directly to Best Buy when it happens. As mentioned in the article though, just when I thought there couldn't be any more point to adding more restaurants, five more open up in the local area.
 

Harpuia

Member
Last week I went to a mall in Staten island that my family and I used to go to a lot. They COMPLETELY gutted the Sears there and reduced it to like 1/3rd of it's former size. They kept the hardware part of the store and everything else was brutally diminished in size. It's kind of sad. It's unrecognizable, and it's looked the same way for basically my entire life. Imagine my surprise when I walk in and it's a former shell of it's old self.

They also changed the mall a bit, probably in an attempt to revitalize it. Though it's fairly busy despite the Sears getting truncated.

I also worked at a Kmart in my early college years. I believe word was that it wasn't getting it's lease renewed in 2017, which then at the time was 2012.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
I haven't been in a mall since like 2007. Even then it was dead.

I used to work at target and it was fine for what it was. Wonder what young people will do now for jobs when retail dies down significantly and robots can do everything anyways.

Don't forget about Staples closing about 70 stores, selling off their Europe and non-NA stores, and cutting a lot of positions inside the store. The place is an absolute massacre right now.

Staples fucking sucks everytime I went in there. I don't even give them a single thought now.
 

ezrarh

Member
Maybe this is our opportunity to wipe our landscape of excessively large strip malls and shopping centers and replace it with housing and more adaptable buildings than big box retail. But I'm guessing most of the retail apocalypse is happening in towns facing population loss and not booming metro areas.
 

Zocano

Member
My parents own and run a little retail store in the nearby mall to me but 95%+ of their sales are online (through amazon). I hope this doesn't affect them too much but that mall has been dreary and fairly empty for a long time now. The area itself is actually fairly busy but no one really goes to that mall.
 

Speevy

Banned
Father and son sharing a soda in Trump's America, 2023.

the-road-viggo-mortensen-son_udyale.jpg
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
What is Family Christian? Is that where you take your daughter to get a purity ball dress?

They sell christian books and music, basically. A niche business that is probably getting its clock cleaned by Amazon.
 

jstripes

Banned
Retail stores will end up forgotten like pay phones at this pace.

I hope not. I enjoy picking an item up off a shelf and taking it home. I also like trying on clothes before I buy them.

The only time I shop online is when I can't find an item locally, or when there's some ridiculous deal.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
What is Family Christian? Is that where you take your daughter to get a purity ball dress?

it's the mother store to Sister Christian. Surprisingly a Night Ranger merch boutique store does quite well for itself.
 
I work part time at Century 21, a retail store founded in NYC. The owners have been opening new stores and cutting people's hours. I got the feeling this will encourage the owners to expand more.
 

slit

Member
Walmart isn't dead yet, nor is a few others. Actually Walmart is doing pretty well these days.

Walmart has well positioned themselves in online retail anyway. They're second largest behind only Amazon. Lucky for Walmart their supply chain management is well suited for the transition.
 

Supast4r

Junior Member
Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?
As a former employee I can tell you that it stems from CVS not making a deal with medical companies. In Illinois, Walgreens undercut cvs to make a deal to blue cross that was way cheaper than cvs so they didn't go lower.
 

KillerBEA

Member
Only really surprised to see CVS on that list.

What's changed about their market recently to result in the loss?
They stopped selling tobacco.
What is Family Christian? Is that where you take your daughter to get a purity ball dress?
Thats where you buy an overpriced King James bible, buy the special edition of Gods not Dead 2, and buy the latest Skillet album. Oh and tons gawdy of cross and Jesus related things.

I noticed the 1 near me is closing, will probably go in and swipe some deals on future presents for my parents.

Where are you guys buying shoes from nowadays.

Last couple years all my sneakers were brought from 6pm, Amazozn and some smaller online outlets.

I have only brought one pairs of shows from B&W recently.
Walmart because I dont care.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
I kinda wonder if "outlet" malls aren't taking away a lot of the traffic from standard malls. Those places always seem packed out on the weekends.

Payless having trouble doesn't seem so surprising since DSW seems to be the big thing these days. The selection is a lot larger and their stores aren't nearly as rundown.

Overall I think there are too many malls and stores and there needs to be some consolidation anyway. I don't think traditional retail will ever truly die but there are still far too many options when either online is so easy or there are existing entrenched retail brands.
 

ViciousDS

Banned
I think JcPenny is the only one I've ever visited in the last like 10 years......Payless doesn't surprise me......they are actually insanely expensive for what you pay for.....ironic given the name.

CVS doesn't either.......they've been putting CVS on the same corner of every Walgreens but instead of matching their pharmacy in terms of availability with providing less wait.....you end up waiting more because they never have the shit you need.

I'm going to chalk a few of these to not evolving with the times
 
I rarely go to the mall anymore, not that I ever did that much to begin with. About the only time we go is for the back wall of the Lego Store where you can fill up a container with individual pieces. My son loves doing that.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
One less place for teen jobs.

It's not just teens. Through my years of retail, it's sad to see how many middle aged adults worked these jobs, yet had a degree and a good job at one point. Whether it had to do with job cuts, offshoring, or things in their personal lives thst might've happened, retail stores at least offer money for their families.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom