-- Malls dying? Soon to be gone? - a question...

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by ptlyon

OMG OMG OMG

I must have missed something.??.

[Baby Lee]

It's tough to differentiate personal mall patronization patterns from population-wide patterns. As people age, their daily need for new stuff goes down. So everyone thinking of their own experiences says 'sure, I go less than I used to.'

That is, unless they are hauling kids there, or otherwise going there to get things for an expanding family.

It's tough to argue with the logic, though, that the virtual environment has replaced the mall environment, both as a place to gather for leisure and a place to obtain consumer goods.

Between Amazon and Facebook [ie, online shopping and social media], there's less of an imperative to go somewhere for either socialization or consumerism.

And things are moving fast, too. 15 years ago, St. Louis Mills was brand new. 2-3 years ago, I went there during the holidays and it was packed. It's been closed [or nearly so] for over a year, and part of it is soon to be converted to a church facility.

Edit - right at 2 years since it's nearly closed

https://fox2now.com/2016/09/07/haunt...is-mills-mall/

Check out how huge and new and clean, . . and empty

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

It's tough to differentiate personal mall patronization patterns from population-wide patterns. As people age, their daily need for new stuff goes down. So everyone thinking of their own experiences says 'sure, I go less than I used to.'

That is, unless they are hauling kids there, or otherwise going there to get things for an expanding family.

It's tough to argue with the logic, though, that the virtual environment has replaced the mall environment, both as a place to gather for leisure and a place to obtain consumer goods.

Between Amazon and Facebook [ie, online shopping and social media], there's less of an imperative to go somewhere for either socialization or consumerism.

hmm interesting angle.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

It's tough to differentiate personal mall patronization patterns from population-wide patterns. As people age, their daily need for new stuff goes down. So everyone thinking of their own experiences says 'sure, I go less than I used to.'

That is, unless they are hauling kids there, or otherwise going there to get things for an expanding family.

It's tough to argue with the logic, though, that the virtual environment has replaced the mall environment, both as a place to gather for leisure and a place to obtain consumer goods.

Between Amazon and Facebook [ie, online shopping and social media], there's less of an imperative to go somewhere for either socialization or consumerism.

And things are moving fast, too. 10 years ago, St. Louis Mills was brand new. 2-3 years ago, I went there during the holidays and it was packed. It's been closed [or nearly so] for over a year, and part of it is soon to be converted to a church facility.

Agreed. Went alot as a newly married adult (got crap to buy), then tapered off alot when the kids were young, and now go there more as the kids tastes have morphed into something where they want stuff at malls. I've gone more in the last 1-2 years than I had in the 5 or more before that.

And to answer the OP question -- like 2 weeks ago.

[doomy3]

Enclosed malls seem to be nearing extinction, although there are certainly exceptions.

I just had lunch today with the CEO of a fashion company, and we were talking about this supposed death of retail due to online shopping. His answer was that 92% of retail transactions are still done face to face. 8% are done online.

That's a higher number than in the past, but a far cry from the doom and gloom for retail that many speak of.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by doomy3

Enclosed malls seem to be nearing extinction, although there are certainly exceptions.

I just had lunch today with the CEO of a fashion company, and we were talking about this supposed death of retail due to online shopping. His answer was that 92% of retail transactions are still done face to face. 8% are done online.

That's a higher number than in the past, but a far cry from the doom and gloom for retail that many speak of.

Maybe within the specific fashion sector in which he operates those numbers are close to accurate. Overall, given the volume of ecommerce that now occurs, those numbers don’t appear to match reality.
Of course we’d need to see what is being defined by “retail”. Does that include groceries, automobiles for instance?

[Simply Red]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Maybe within the specific fashion sector in which he operates those numbers are close to accurate. Overall, given the volume of ecommerce that now occurs, those numbers don’t appear to match reality.
Of course we’d need to see what is being defined by “retail”. Does that include groceries, automobiles for instance?

about to post basically this same thing - and who knew that doomy (of all people) dealt with fashion conglomerates?

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by vailpass

Maybe within the specific fashion sector in which he operates those numbers are close to accurate. Overall, given the volume of ecommerce that now occurs, those numbers don’t appear to match reality.
Of course we’d need to see what is being defined by “retail”. Does that include groceries, automobiles for instance?

I've done a big study of shopping patterns in Colorado, and the proportion of shopping online more or less matched what doomy said. It's big in some sectors and non-existent in others, but when you look at everything people buy, it was less than 10 percent in the study that I did. That might have included restaurant spending, which isn't exactly online-eligible, but even so, online is smaller than most people think.

[Bugeater]

I ate at a restaurant located in the parking lot of a mall a while back, does that count?

[Bugeater]

Out of the 5 in the Pigsknuckle metro area, 3 are dead, 1 is dying, and 1 is still managing to do fairly well.

[DaFace]

I went to a Sears that was technically attached to a mall a few weeks ago, but I didn't go in the mall itself. Does that count?

Overall, I've probably been to or near a true indoor mall about 5 times in the past 10 years.

[Bugeater]

This is kinda interesting, was filmed earlier this year, the place has been dead for years but is still in amazing condition. It's going to be a shame when they finally tear it down.

[Miles]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

This is kinda interesting, was filmed earlier this year, the place has been dead for years but is still in amazing condition. It's going to be a shame when they finally tear it down.

I went there a lot back in in the 90s as a teen and long since moved away from Omaha and haven’t been back. Really something to see it like this now.

[vailpass]

Went into a mall this summer to go to a Younkers store that was going out of business after 50 years. Got a 200 ml bottle of Light Blue cologne for $80. Went to the Vans store in the mall about a year ago.

[Eureka]

The one down the street from my house is always packed. I’m in San Jose and the mall is currently under a remodel including a new parking structure.