NY Times: Malls See Plenty of Action, but Less of It Is Shopping

[marmar]

Malls See Plenty of Action, but Less of It Is Shopping

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: July 10, 2009


Despite the recession, James Morrell is at the mall four or five times a week.

That might sound like good news for retailers, but Mr. Morrell does not walk out with shopping bags.

He walks out with a sweat.

“Four laps,” he said as he jogged right past Dick’s Sporting Goods on a recent morning at Roosevelt Field on Long Island, “which I think is about two miles.”

For more than a decade, malls have donned the trappings of community centers. Mall owners installed free or low-cost amenities like jogging routes, restaurants, movie theaters and merry-go-rounds to lure consumers and keep them shopping longer.

But now, in a recession that has consumers sitting on their wallets, those ancillary attractions suddenly seem more popular than the stores. The sideshow is now the big top.

“The consumer’s not avoiding the mall,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a retailing consultancy. “The consumer’s just avoiding spending the money.” ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/nyregion/12mall.html?_r=1&hpw

[Warpy]

1. Malls here were deserted in 2006

when I inherited and decided it was time to replace my thrift shop rags. It didn't work, of course, the mall was jammed with Britney inspired slutwear and no classics for menopausal old buffaloes like myself. But the mall was deserted.

It remained deserted until about 6 months ago, after the Xmas season. People are at least window shopping now, meaning there will be an explosion of buying as soon as Washington gets it through its thick, corporatized head that no business is going to survive without customers and customers are not going to appear unless they have faith that they'll be able to keep their jobs long enough to do some shopping.

I do see occasional people toting small bags of trinkets and underwear, but that's about it. The days of the people wandering around burdened by huge shopping bags from multiple stores are still over.