Mall owner opts to go dark on Thanksgiving, sticking with a new tradition

[steve2470]

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/10/mall-owner-opts-to-go-dark-again-on-thanksgiving.html

CBL Properties will keep the doors of its retail properties closed on Thanksgiving Day for the second-straight year.

Pushing back against so-called Black Friday creep, Tennessee-based CBL said the closures will affect 62 of its malls and open-air shopping centers.

Last year, more than 70 CBL-owned locations were kept closed on the holiday, allowing employees to enjoy their turkey. Some of the REIT's assets have since been sold off, which accounts for the discrepancy in the number of properties closed on a year-over-year basis.

"We had such overwhelming support from last year's decision," Chief Executive Stephen Lebovitz told CNBC. "We felt validated by that ... it was the right thing to do."

[OldHippieChick]

1. A small happy thread for which I

a grateful.

[klook]

2. Wonderful - stop the insanity (nt)

[defacto7]

3. Beautiful!

Now if they'd close it on Friday as well we could end the needless injuries.

[genxlib]

4. They could stop the injuries

by simply not allowing stores to sell limited quantities of an item.

If there was a law that said a sale price had to be valid to every person physically present, then there would be no need to scramble. It might require the use of rain checks but so what.

The stores would then have to price goods at an economically viable price rather than setting up a Hunger Games competition.

[defacto7]

7. good point. n/t

[catbyte]

10. +1000

[crazycatlady]

16. Stores have limited storage

I've worked retail. Everything from what we sell to where it is, even the music playing in store is dictated by corporate.

Nobody in a store (even a manager) has the power to control inventory.

Rain checks exist, but most Black Friday type things are limited edition items. Stores I worked at had a company policy not to issue rainchecks for seasonal items. That bargain Christmas tree won't be coming in again until next year, where it will be a slightly different model. Sure they're issued for something like a bottle of shampoo, but that type of inventory doesn't change with the seasons.

In 2010, when I bought my last laptop, I was looking at stores (Best Buy, Staples, etc) and the sales associate at Best Buy said the computers that go on sale on BF are the ones that are typically discontinued models. I could imagine that applies to flat screens, etc.

[genxlib]

18. I have no doubt that the logistical limitations that you list are real

But logistical problems should be secondary to public safety.

If they can't guarantee inventory that will satisfy demand then they should not be actively instigating that much demand.

They have put their promotional goals to generate early morning shopper traffic over the safety of their customers.

[KT2000]

5. Yes!!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I read the list was was shocked and delighted to see that

Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, KS, is one of theirs.

I used to live near that mall, and people drive in from as far away as Des Moines, IA, and Lincoln, NE to shop there. Yes, really. I learned a long time ago that if I meet people from those places they almost always were familiar with Oak Park Mall.


Wow.

[MontanaMama]

8. Happy to see this!

It is a travesty that Black Friday has infiltrated Thanksgiving. I don't even have Thanksgiving with my sister's family anymore because they head out shopping by 7pm. Ridiculous.

[smirkymonkey]

9. Good! I have one sister-in-law who is a Thanksgiving night/Black Friday

shopping maniac. It drives me crazy. She asks me every year if I want to go and I tell her every year I would rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty ice pick.

[Initech]

12. And most BF / CM deals aren't even that good!

I'm a PC enthusiast and I always have to tell people that the things that really get discounted on BF / CM are the shit you wouldn't buy any other time of the year. BF is a hose job - it's designed to get you in the door to move the cheap junk that the stores can't move the rest of the year. Would you buy a brand X tablet for $49? No. Would you buy it for $10 on BF? Yeah if it gets you in the door. But if you want the latest XBOX or Playstation, too bad - you're paying full retail price.

[TeamPooka]

11. Good for them. I hope others follow their lead. Westfield, I'm talking to you.

[Mosby]

13. I wonder how their tenents feel about this

It's the tenents who lose out, not the property owners.

Does he reduce the monthly rent by 1/30th?

[raven mad]

14. I'm 63, and still can't think of a time I shopped "black Friday".

Still trying......................

[oberliner]

15. For how much longer will malls continue to exist?

Ten years?

[kcr]

17. Good for them

Nice to see businesses with worker-friendly policies.