Deck the Malls? Empty today here...

[Atman]

I just returned from a last-minute trek to the largest mall in the Hartford, CT area...it was a joy! Parking place right by the door. In and out in 15 minutes. Hardly any traffic. I loved it, but I am sure Mr. Retailer is having heartburn. And the Bush crew is cooking up some Osama Bin Mad Cow Alert to explain it all.

Oh, on edit...retailers measure everything in "same store" numbers from last year. I made this same trek last year on Christmas Eve, and it took us literally an hour just to get out of the parking lot.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. Oh, I thought you meant empty like this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/24/national/24MALL.html?pagewanted=print&position=

BTW: which Hartford Mall is biggest? Westfarms?

[mourningdove92]

4. someone must have neglected to tell the NYT that the

economy is booming, Dubya policies have worked, we are in economic recovery......riiiigggghhhttt.

[NewJeffCT]

12. I believe so

I think Westfarms is a bit bigger than Buckland Hills in Manchester, or Westfield in Meriden or the ones in Waterbury & Enfield.

[Atman]

15. Yeah, Westfarms.

It is also more upscale. The other big one is in Manchester, which, like its namesakes everywhere else in the world, is a working class old industrial area. It is more of a Sears/Penny's mall. Westfarms is in the toni neighborhoods of the CEOs and Insurance execs, with Domain and Brooks Brothers type stores.

[KansDem]

17. Empty malls are really very depressing...

But the idea of `put a roof over it and put gadgets in it, and the people will come,' I think that day is gone

Or half-empty malls. We have a couple around here that were once bustling monuments to capitalism and conspicuous consumption. Now they're homes to discount chains and government agencies. Nothing puts a dampener on carefree shopping more than a mall where half (or more) of the shops are closed and vacant...

Oh well, let's move on to the next paradigm...

[Code_Name_D]

24. You must be in Topeka.

Yep, that city actualy has two dead-malls that are now little more than white elifants for the city. White Lakes was the big event when I was litle. But then Westlakes was built and teh big chaines picked up and moved. Ironicly, that was how White Lakes came into being as well, as it was built to replace another older mall that I can berrly remeber the name of.

And it looks like Wichita is about to undergo the same sort of upheavel as presure mounts to build two new malls in the outscerts of town to serve the suberbs. Something that will not go over well as Wichita has two very large malls heavly managed by the city.

[BiggJawn]

2. Good..I got some "last minute" things to get, and NO time...

to deal with the "i'm bored, so i'm going shopping" shopper...
I'll be doing MY "I'm bored" shopping the day AFTER.....

[elmariachi]

3. maybe

everyone finished their shopping already?

[BiggJawn]

10. Finished their credit limits, I'd bet....

[cmd]

11. Maybe the stores sold out of everything

and there is nothing left to buy.

[OldSoldier]

23. Maybe the stores didn't buy that much

The stuff we bought was mostly of the timeless variety; we got a lot of 12v cordless drills and small stuff like that. I can sell cordless drills any day I'm open.

One product that's done well for me is the $89 compound mitersaw. It's a good saw, made in Taiwan like most power tools seem to be anymore. The manufacturer just made a shitload of them, so we can sell 'em cheap. All Home Depots are doing well with this tool.

We also got a little small-appliance selection. Some toasters and coffeemakers. Stuff that will sell fairly easily, and has been doing pretty well. However, my big appliance seller this year is the microwave oven; we can't keep microwave ovens in stock for some reason. That's another timeless product; we sell lots of microwave ovens all year round.

District came down before the Christmas selling season started and told us they thought it was going to be a "down" year, so be wise in your Christmas stocks. They were right.

[zls44]

5. Yay!

Good to see another DUer in WH (I assume)!

Are you familiar with the WH Citizens for Peace & Justice?

[zls44]

6. Leave it to the NYT

Increase in the black population killed the Mall of Memphis...:eyes:

[Atman]

16. Nope.

I'm registered in one of the neighboring towns. I've already been in contact with my local dem HQ; I'll be looking for ways to be a bit more "active" this year. Maybe I'll look 'em up! Thanks.

[beyurslf]

7. I was at several places last night

and never had to stand in line behond more than one person.

[linazelle]

8. Local news reports in Chicago also say shopping levels are down

I contributed greatly to the trend. For the first time, I'm not buying gifts for most of my family members (I told them not to buy for me either) and I only bought a few, token work gifts. I spent about one tenth of what I normally spend. I'll miss the spirit of exchanging gifts come tomorrow but I am happy that I avoided the shop-fest and the stress that have become associated with Christmas.

[trogdor]

20. Well, I didn't go cold-turkey...

...but I did go cheap. Very cheap. It's the thought that counts, anyway. Besides, how much do you really have to spend on Christmas?

I have a wife who is impossible to shop for, so I wound up getting something rather hackneyed, but nice. I also have a son who is too old for cheap Chinese plastic crap (he's 14), so he gets what he's into - PlayStation stuff, Homestar Runner stuff, plus something made of wood that you (gasp!) have to put together.

Out of town relatives got local farmers' market type stuff. They're used to me bringing upstate New York to Kentucky with me, and I'm not going this year, so USPS got a chunk of my Christmas budget.

I agree with you though; Christmas shopping sucks elephants. It's a lot of mostly unnecessary drudgery, and the sooner it's over, and the less I have to do, the more I enjoy Christmas.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. I went yesterday and it was quiet

No problem parking in the Cambridgeside Galleria. A normal Saturday is busier than it was yesterday-two days before Christmas.

BTW this mall is convenient to two subway lines, several bus lines, and two highways. It is also in one of the most densely populated areas in the country. Not a good sign for retail sales...

[Bandit]

13. "and it took us literally an hour just to get out of the parking lot."

And last year was waaayyy down from the year before and that was waaayyy down from the year befoe that. Retailers must love the Bush* roaring economy.

[warrior1]

14. Xtremly

nasty in Northern Cal today. Gust of 35 plus rain. Bad bad bad...

[are_we_united_yet]

18. Why you Evil, DU unpatriotic non-flag waving fools!

It isn't what it looks like. The economy is getting better! Just look at the polls from the objective sources such as USA today and CNN. Unemployment is going down. Jobs are being created. Isn't that right George?

/(end sarcasm**(infinity)/0)!

i.e. a lot of sarcasm

[Old and In the Way]

19. Hmmmmmm.....maybe this is why the Orange Alert

Perhaps they were seeing the initial shopping data and they decided they'd need a reason that shopping was down, other than their splendid stewardship of the economy.

Can't have reality ruin a great WH meme that the economy is "roaring".

[are_we_united_yet]

21. Good point! I didn't think of that angle.

eom

[Atman]

22. Old super-malls would make great senior communities

You have everything right there. All the infrastructure, from food prep to medical. Just divvy up the stores into apartments...seniors would stop leaving for Florida. Nice sunny atriums in most malls. Commons areas. Protection from Bush's acid rain and nuclear fallout. Really, seriously (except the last sentence...kinda...) There is money to be made here. The "towns" of tomorrow.

You could even sell towns to certain idealogies...live in an enclosed liberal enclave, with hooka bars and bongo clubs.

Oh, jeez...gotta lay off the egg nog!

[cmd]

27. No, no, Atman. Keep drinking that nog. You are on to something.

Malls are already handicapped accessible. They would make great neighborhoods. Keep the food courts open for meals. Residents could garden in the atriums. Walking tracks are already there. Now the next question is do you want to live at Saks or Sears?

[catmandu57]

28. Actually that made sense

Building condos into existing malls for seniors, the last time I was at a mall I was rundown by seniors walking. They do have large sunny atriums to sit in, leaving stores that service seniors, and establishing cafeterias, Damn you may have something here.

[Missy Vixen]

25. Same here, but we went two days ago

>Parking place right by the door. In and out in 15 minutes. Hardly any traffic.<

DH and I had to pick up one last item at the local mall two days ago. I was astonished to find a parking place right by the front door of the store we were visiting and very, very few shoppers.

We live ten miles east of Redmond, WA, where the mall we visited is located. Redmond is the home of Microsoft, Nintendo, Helly-Hansen, and a few other businesses most here would recognize. Their median income is shockingly high; if there was a recession proof town, it's Redmond. (There are two Tiffany's here within 25 miles of each other; Tiffany's got more requests for catalogs from Redmond, WA yearly then they did from Beverly Hills.) Nobody was shopping on a clear, warmish (low 50's) evening three days before Christmas.

There's something wrong, and as you said, there's the Osama bin Mad Cow alert to distract from it. Don't disrupt your normal routines. Keep shopping. Nobody's shopping, though...

Julie

[dawn]

26. I went yesterday and it was packed!

You are lucky! I went to the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, CA and it was pretty crowded.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. So the Orange County Republicans are thriving

What else is new?

[spooky3]

31. A mall in one of the hottest residential areas in No. Virginia

is also dying. I was there 10 days ago and there were few shoppers. The guys working at the GameStop were complaining about being bored and volunteered that it was nearly always like that. One of them said he had a friend working at the off-price mall 20 miles away and business was booming. I guess Pickles doesn't venture out this way often enough to tell * that the economy is good only for those who can afford to slash prices.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

30. the Newburgh Mall, NY was quite too..i was glad because i only needed

a bath robe and was out of there in 10 minutes this afternoon

[DocSavage]

32. Money flying

Every place I went today was a zoo. Best Buy had 14 registers open. That is the most I have ever seen. The malls (both) were packed. I did not ever try to go to wal-mart.