Corporate Death Watch

Of the eight enclosed malls in our area, only the biggest or the one attached to the casino is doing well. Even the upscale mall is getting weak.

1966 592,498 square feet
1972 457,734
1973 270,000 --------- no anchor store left
1975 405,199
1976 1,181,000
1989 578,925 --------- most serious condition, Kohl's only anchor left
2006 475,000 - malls that looks like a little village (upscale)
2011 133,000 - Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Sands Casino Mall

I wonder if they could make enough money turning them into flea markets? I have seen smaller multi-front mini malls turned into a flea market. Some money is better than no money.

Generally the only venue for them is outside or warehouse, which I suppose has a pretty low overhead.

Quote: rxwine

I wonder if they could make enough money turning them into flea markets?

The problem with malls is the heating
and air bills are gigantic. You can
only make a profit if most of the
spaces are paying rent. With an
empty mall, all you have is property
taxes. With write offs you can
probably stay out of debt, but
it's a millstone around your private
parts..

Quote: Evenbob

The problem with malls is the heating
and air bills are gigantic. You can
only make a profit if most of the
spaces are paying rent. With an
empty mall, all you have is property
taxes. With write offs you can
probably stay out of debt, but
it's a millstone around you private
parts..

When people get a pie chart of the investments in their pensions, these are the slice in the pie that says, "real estate".

More goods but fewer people has been a theme since the days of Henry Ford's assembly line and the model T.
Work was no longer a skilled craftsman such as a coachmaker but instead a boring repetitive nut tightener.

Supposedly this liberates the individual to perform more mentally and socially rewarding tasks but the people liberated in this manner tend to focus on being liberated from a paycheck more than being eliminated from drudgery.

its the era of a dislocation between employment and useful work.

Computers arrive but jobs go to low level keypunchers and printer operators.

Such occupations as do persist tend to be 'outsourced' to 'labor providers' who pay low wages and provide few benefits, keep unions out and keep troublemakers at bay.

its as old as the corks into wine bottles and automatic bottle making machines that put glass blowers out of business.

Malls? Only Mexican Malls seem profitable. These are malls that cater to lengthy family trips involving shopping, meals, kids activities, etc. however malls that try this often have security guards told to evict people for shopping while black, ie, loitering.

Sure some malls become data centers, some become flea markets, some become drug dealing havens, many just totter on the brink of extinction. Instead of a source of tax revenue for the community they become a drain on communities that not only lose tax money but lose a safe gathering place for the after school crowd that now need to fend for themselves as latch key kids.

Here in my area of Tampa malls do quite well and are quite crowded with many shoppers.
My local mall is the Westfield Citrus Park mall
Quite large, no vacancies. Its anchored by Sears, Macy's and Dicks sporting goods
I go there sometimes just for exercise walking
Maybe malls do well down here due to the outside heat in the summer
I cant think of any dead malls in the area
Just outside my immediate area, International Plaza and Bay St which is gigantic and I consider an upscale mall with a lot of upscale restaurants. Its a very crowded mall.

Quote: Fleastiff

Malls? Only Mexican Malls seem profitable. These are malls that cater to lengthy family trips involving shopping, meals, kids activities, etc. however malls that try this often have security guards told to evict people for shopping while black, ie, loitering.

Hmm. I remember a case study from some college class that said how Mexican families make shopping a more serious thing than Anglos. It was a Saturday-morning thing for the whole family. I doubt it saves malls.

Quote:

Sure some malls become data centers, some become flea markets, some become drug dealing havens, many just totter on the brink of extinction. Instead of a source of tax revenue for the community they become a drain on communities that not only lose tax money but lose a safe gathering place for the after school crowd that now need to fend for themselves as latch key kids.

The one I keep mentioning is now using an old anchor as some kind of sound stage filming "Mindhunter" season 2. That can't last. Most of them need to be flattened and a new use found.

Quote: terapined

Here in my area of Tampa malls do quite well and are quite crowded with many shoppers.
My local mall is the Westfield Citrus Park mall
Quite large, no vacancies. Its anchored by Sears, Macy's and Dicks sporting goods
I go there sometimes just for exercise walking
Maybe malls do well down here due to the outside heat in the summer
I cant think of any dead malls in the area
Just outside my immediate area, International Plaza and Bay St which is gigantic and I consider an upscale mall with a lot of upscale restaurants. Its a very crowded mall.

If I remember correctly, you are in Florida. I wonder what part age demographic plays in it? My guess is that the average age of mall shoppers has went up. A lot more of the 25 to 50 year olds are buying online now.

Quote: DRich

If I remember correctly, you are in Florida. I wonder what part age demographic plays in it? My guess is that the average age of mall shoppers has went up. A lot more of the 25 to 50 year olds are buying online now.

IMHO buying online is a smaller part than it really is. More a cultural change. After the 1980s you just didn’t hang at all he mall anymore. Back then that’s where your friends were. Today kids Snapchat.