I went to the mall today

[Gore1FL]

I need some short sleeve shirts as my office is HOT! It has four PCS in it and I am too new an employee to get a windowed office.

This mall was always hustling and bustling in years past. Store front after store front had people coming and going. Even on weekdays there was a bit of traffic to contend with in the wide corridors. All the kiosks were full of people selling everything from t-shirts to cell phones to Jewelry and watches.

Today, a Saturday, I walked through it and found store after store vacant. The kiosks were vacant. One fromer high-end department store is now a outlet. Macy's, Sears, and a smattering of random stores now stay open. I felt like Will Smith in I am Legend....

It was unreal.

I hate the mall.. don't get me wrong. I don't like crowds or shopping... But dang, I don't hate it this much.

Gosh, I am sure glad we got tax cuts to stimulate the economy in 2001... I guess that $600 this year will do just as well. I wonder if St. Louis' once great Northwest Plaza will ever return to what it once was...

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Even the media seem to have noticed

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24261490/

If rising food and fuel prices aren’t exactly getting you in the mood to hit the mall for a new spring outfit, you’re not alone.

Clothing retailers are facing a double whammy of drooping consumer interest — fueled by economic woes — coupled with their own rising costs for raw materials such as cotton, fuel to transport goods and even labor in China.

[kestrel91316]

17. Clothing retailers wouldn't be in so much trouble if they concentrated more on

PRACTICAL clothing for adults who work and have responsible lives as opposed to attire for spoiled teens with too much time and money on their hands and sex on their minds........

Guess you know where I stand on that issue now, right? ROFLMAO

[malaise]

2. Have you also noticed that the department stores and

name brand clothes have stopped advertising as much.

[LiberalEsto]

8. On the contrary

we are constantly bombarded with sale ads from JS Penney, Kohls and Sears. They are slashing prices, but still, nobody is buying. Who needs a new spring outfit when you can't afford to fill the gas tank?

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. The paper advertising and flyers are high, yes; but almost no TV.

[Lars39]

3. The mall in Bellevue, in Nashville, is going to tear down everything

except the anchor stores of Macy's and Sears and build a regular strip mall between the two anchors. That mall is dead.

[Tejas]

4. only purpose of malls is to promote "excess"

Malls, along with local politicians in bed with mall owners, are single-handedly responsible for the downfall of many downtown shopping areas/economies.


No love lost here.

[femmocrat]

5. Same story here.

Not only was the mall empty, there was practically no traffic. On a Saturday. It was like having the road to myself. I really wonder how much longer Macy's can stay afloat. You could drive a hummer through there, it's so empty.

[DesertFlower]

6. i've noticed the same thing

in the last few months.

[emilyg]

10. I have, too.

[LiberalEsto]

7. Our community yard sale today was kind of slow

There were definitely not as many people looking around this year, and nobody seemed to be in a spending mood.

I think the price of gas is affecting yard sales.

[Rosemary2205]

9. I think even walmart sales are dropping.

[Dude_CalmDown]

11. They're all at Costco

Fucken madhouse in there. Not just the people that like to block the aisle drooling on themselves - but people like me just trying to get what I need and run.

[live love laugh]

12. I've noticed the only new retail outlets are Aldi's and Dollar Stores...

They are everywhere--a testament to Bush's economy IMHO.

[texanwitch]

13. I went to Target today, my first trip out of the house for a few weeks due to a bad knee.

The Target I go to is attached to a mall, and both places were not busy.

It was easy to find a parking place.

A lot of people were looking but not buying.

[spinbaby]

14. The grocery store was pretty empty today

I'm noticing that the only time it's busy is when people get paid.

[w8liftinglady]

18. when I'm at the grocery store...

I notice that people have a very specific amount of groceries in their cart-no impulse buying...and the carts are a lot emptier

[1776Forever]

16. To tell you the truth I haven't been "shopping" for 2 months now. And house taxes will take up

all our "rebate". I have been trying to get a job for over a year. I am VERY qualified and VERY degreed so it isn't that and I have GREAT references. It is just terrible here in FL where I live for any kind of job. Luckily my husband has a part time job and he is retired military. And so it goes.............

:hi:

[mnhtnbb]

19. I went in a tile store today. There were so many people looking, choosing, buying

that no one could help me in the 10 minutes I was there.

[AlCzervik]

20. me too--

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7686735

mall rage is subsiding now.

[ThomWV]

21. Same thing at Lowe's and Home Depot

I walked through a Lowe's a couple of weeks ago in the early morning. There are always lots of small contractor guys in there in the morning picking up supplies for small jobs that day. The place as empty; there were more Lowe's people than there were customers. I was back in a couple of days later, same thing. A year ago I'd have been waiting in line, a long line.

[undeterred]

22. When you can walk into a hair salon without an appt

on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, you know things are bad. When times are good, girls and women will spend their extra money on their hair and nails to look good for weekend dates. When times are hard we skip it. I am getting cards in the mail from shops I've been to once or twice reminding me to come in. They're hurting for business.

[goldcanyonaz]

23. The only store in town that is thriving is Walmart and the China Buffet.

I went to Nordstrom last week and was able to enter, buy and exit all within 20 minutes. A new world record for me.

[HughBeaumont]

24. 28 years of hyperdrive risk-shiftin' coming home to roost.

This couldn't have ended any other way. Eventually, the cost of living had to exceed the living wage so much, the average human is putting so much of their pay towards nothing BUT the ever-increasing COL. The average family has had, since 1970, a real dollar increase of only $4000 in income. We work longer hours for that money, because now, unbridled corporate America can get Mom AND Dad for what they used to just get Dad for. Savings has gone from "put away what you can" to "paying myself would mean either not eating or not driving". "Nice-To-Have's" are now, well . . . just that. Malls aren't going to be as crowded anymore, because consumers have bosses throwing out terms at work such as "cost cutting", "trimming", "overlap", "reorganizing", "riding out this storm" . . . I mean, if your daily mindset boils down to "is today going to be my last day? Is today going to be my last day", would you shop for things?

This life we expected would always be there simply has become unsustainable and the margin call has been cast.

Why?

It all . . . ALL comes down to one simple sentence:

"What the Wealthy Want, The Wealthy Will GET, No Matter WHAT the Cost to Everything and Everyone Else."

And until this stops, either by legislation or violent revolution, our situation is going to get worse before it gets better.

[Wiley50]

25. Fuck' a Mall n/t