Are stores disappearing near you?

[undeterred]

I went out this afternoon to go to a pet store near a mall and it was gone. No signs, no logos, nothing. The store space was empty. Around the corner was Circuit City, and 3 people wearing huge "liquidation" signs. A sporting goods store has been replaced by a budget grocery store. It seems like all this just happened overnight.

[grannie4peace]

1. yes

[Lucinda]

2. Not here, but we have family in Florida who are seeing what you are...

Scary times.

[Ian David]

3. Yes. And they're all becoming evangelical fundie churches.

And churches do not pay taxes.

What SHOULD be tax-revenue generating retail spaces are now tax-free churches that clog our streets every Sunday.


Once, I accidentally shone my laser pointer into one while playing with a feral cat.

Panic ensued.

It was funny, but I wouldn't have done it on purpose.

[SoCalNative]

16. Churches may not pay taxes

but they usually don't own the spaces they move into, at least right away and especially if they're in strip malls or storefronts. If they're paying rent to a landlord then at least property taxes are being collected on the site.

[Ian David]

18. In this case, they're actually buying the property. And not just the property they're using.

The churches are also buying other properties as investments and not doing anything to improve them-- just waiting until the market picks up.

[dixiegrrrrl]

41. Fundie church moved in next door to my beauty parlor.

Now look, we live rural , so the building is a long metal type thing partitioned into 3
spaces.
Haircut place, new fundy church of the Holy Something or the other Tabernacle of the etc etc.
then a 3rd empty space.

Apparently Wed. afternoon is one of their get togethers, as I found out sitting in the chair when all of a sudden the loudspeakers hooked up OUTSIDE their door went off.
They make a lot of noise for 15 cars of people.
I changed my appointment times.

[Beaverhausen]

4. Yes, but mostly I'm noticing the big chains

Circuit City, Linens and Things and Mervyns but I have seen others.

I fear this will get worse before it gets better.

[pepperbear]

5. ukrop's is a very popular grocery chain in my area of VA....

they are a great grocery store, known for being community active. they are also a state-wide only business. They opened a store in 2006 around the corner from a walmart.

The Ukrop's is closing this year.

[rvablue]

15. Really, wow! I live in VA too and that is very surprising to hear.

I know they took a bit of a hit when Krogers redid their stores a few years back.

And then they had to bring in a generic label because of lagging sales.

But a grocery store closing????? That is not a good sign.

[Joe the Liberal]

6. I noticed 2 closing.........

Circuit City and this Big and Tall clothing store.

[DJ13]

7. Yes

We lost a Mervyn's, and an Albertson's grocery in the last month.

[ronnykmarshall]

8. Yeah

Circuit City, Mervyn's.

Up north Gottchaulks (department store in the central valley and central coast).

Last year Levtz Furniture.

[XemaSab]

78. In Redding

Circuit City, Mervyn's, Gottschalks, and McMahan's Furniture (all large stores), as well as many smaller stores and some restaurants.

We've still got Macy's, Sears, Target, WalMart, Best Buy, Ashley, Pier One, and a few other places, but I would guess 1/4 big stores in town have closed. :o

[here_is_to_hope]

9. Furniture stores and upscale clothing stores are

gone here in Coos Bay, Oregon.
Lots of the ma and pa's are gone. There is no longer any venue's for live music or local bands, the Casino killed those the last few years.

[WCGreen]

14. Coos Bay is so cool...

I spent a weekend there back in 1979...

[Warpy]

I had about a 4 mile drive to pick something up a week ago

and a good 75% of the drive was through residential streets. I decided to count the empty storefronts at the small strip malls.

Less than halfway there, I was up to 20. I got depressed and quit.

Recession is when you don't have enough money to buy what you want. Depression is when there's no longer anywhere to buy it.

This economy is turning into a depression FAST.

[BelgianMadCow]

96. on recession and depression, an interesting post from the economy forum about collapse stages

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=114x54727#54736

When goods start to become unavailable, that's stage 2. The great depression arguably ended at this stage - soup lines.

People that are self-reliant, capable of living with little means and with a good social network (family-neighbours-town) are much more likely to get through such times relatively unscathed. I have been toying with such ideas for a while, it's becoming real all too fast. Bought 40 bags of vegetable seeds last year and thought I was a bit kooky, not so anymore...

[BobRossi]

10. Yup.

Strip malls looking more and more like ghost towns all around Detroit.

[rvablue]

11. Yes, both chains and independently owned stores

I just went by this salon that these young ladies had opened about a year ago.

They put so much effort into redoing it and making it very cool looking.

So sad. I was out walking the dog today and everything is gone. Kaput. Someone's dream.

I know even before all of this that there was some statistic that 20% of all new businesses fail in the first year or something like that, but it's not just this place. And on top of that, it will be curious to see if anyone else rents that spot now (which would happen in a decent economy) or if it will remain empty.

[juno jones]

31. I lost my small buisness about a year and a half ago

at the very beginning of this mess.

The landlord would not work with us at all, he really wanted us out so he could charge more money for the space.

I should blush to say, but it makes me happy that he's had to lower the price several times and the space is still empty.

[City of Mills]

32. That's awesome

That the landlord can't re-rent the space, I mean. Karma. That's happened a lot around my city lately, some investor will come in, not work with the business tenant and jack the rent, hoping to lure a more 'lucrative' tenant. Instead, the business space remains empty for month after month after month. So many good businesses have closed around here in the past few years, it's very frustrating.

[Liberal_in_LA]

68. karma!

[KamaAina]

38. It's more like 80% of small businesses DOA in the first two years

I've always thought that, unless four out of five people who start small businesses are complete :dunce: s, it's because the mega-corps, particularly the banks, have stacked the deck against them.

[lapfog_1]

12. Stores? What stores?

In the last 3 months, our little town lost it's one new car dealership (the only one in 60 miles in any direction), one strip mall lost it's little mom & pop shops and the anchor store (a budget department store)... the only thing left is a pizza place and that looks iffy. Three restaurants have closed, 3 or 4 real estate offices are gone.

The other large strip mall has a Safeway, but the Ace hardware closed. Another set of mom & pops (radio shack, postal express, hair salon, DES (state office of economic security) are gone.

The Wallmart is doing OK, but a strip mall set up next to the Wallmart is failing (Quizno's, Subway, nail salon).

The downtown area (what there is of it) was mostly shuttered long before this crisis.

That's OK, nobody has any money to spend on anything. (oh, maybe that's part of the problem? :sarcasm: )

[Cirque du So-What]

13. Goody's is gone

Goody's, a family clothing store, closed their store in my town back last summer. I heard earlier this week that they've gone belly-up; all stores will be closed soon.

[bigwillq]

17. Yes.

I live in CT, and quite a bit of stores have closed shop, from national franchises to small businesses.

[SoCalNative]

19. In my city..a major L.A. suburb

we've lost Linens n Things, Mervyns, Circuit City and an Albertsons. And that's all within the past 2 to 3 months.

[Maat]

33. Ditto ... I'm also in SoCal ...

down here in the Murrieta/Temecula ("Inland Empire" area - southwest).

We've lost those stores, and many local mom-and-pop service-type operations, or those that sell pet supplies. We've lost our martial arts studios, and gyms.

Of course, half of the houses on my block have sat empty for over a year (went-back-to-the-bank situations).

Local unemployment is WAY UP.

[YvonneCa]

47. Hi, neighbor...

...:hi: Sad, isn't it?

[Maat]

59. Yep.

I've been forecasting it, tragically. I used to tell Republican acquaintances that I expected it to happen (a depression, due to the economic policies of a certain Misadministration). They told me I was full of it (not so, as it turns out). Hubby and I have been very careful in terms of financial decisions the last few years, anticipating a crisis. I have consistently told Beloved Daughter that, if Mommy and Daddy, have prepared correctly (fortunately, unlike many, we were a situation to be able to do so), she will get through tough economic times without many scratches; HOWEVER, she will be volunteering regularly at the local food bank (and that's been the case).

[Canuckistanian]

20. Happened to me a few times

Once, I was going into our local video rental/computer/camera store (hey, it's a small town). It always seemed to be busy and they had recently expanded.

But this time the door was locked, the lights were out and there was sign on the door. Apparently, the store was turned over to recievers after the owner failed to pay rent for several months.

It was quite a shock. The store was busy as usual just two days before.

[Anwen]

21. Mervyns, Circuit City, Linens 'n Things, Baja Fresh, McMahon's Furniture...

Off the top of my head. I am sure there are more if I think about it...

I'm in Chico, CA.

[Iggo]

24. Baja Fresh?!?!?!?

NOOOOOoooooo.....

[Anwen]

46. Yes, it was quite the disappointment!

I was craving their veggie burrito & salsas a few weeks ago, and decided to treat myself. Imagine my surprise when I arrived to an empty building! :(

I don't think all Baja Fresh's are closing, though! Maybe the Chico branch wasn't doing so well..

[SoCalDem]

67. Applebees is in trouble too

A guy we know is a manger/franchisee of one nearby, and he's barely covering payroll, and still owes a shitload on his francise agreement...he;s not alone..

The Mom & Pop restaurants grew slowly, and only expanded/upgraded when they were flush with money & customers.. Franchisees have to pay a lot to corporate, whether they have customers or not..and they have no lee way to change things when business tanks..

we eat out a couple of times a week, and it's always $25-35 with tax & tip for TWO of us.. A family of 4, probably does not eat out much these days..

[Ilsa]

22. Yes. Stores and restaurants, including chains. In South Texas. nt

[blues90]

23. I see many older small shops with gates drawn all day

And I have seen stores close and many are there one day and the next is a chain linked vacant lot. I went to a petshop that was here for many years and didn't think of calling and when I arrived it was a small furnature store with still the old signs hanging there.

[pdxmom]

25. My drive to work takes me past a strip of new and used car dealers, and over

the past 3 weeks, at least 5 of them have just disappeared. There one day, and no cars and closed up the next.

Scary.

[Demobrat]

26. I'm in SF, in a nabe that doesn't allow chains.

We're lost a mom and pop boutique, our only beauty supply store and a couple of little coffee shops already this year.

[Terran]

27. Wal Mart is building a second Super Center in my town

of 45,000. And it will probably do well, too. Guess that's good for people who need a job, no matter how crappy.

But yes, Circuit City will be disappearing, and there was a rumor that the mall would close entirely, but apparently that's not true. But that place has never been at capacity during the 15 years I've lived here...it's got to run into huge trouble eventually.

[undeterred]

35. Walmart seems to be doing well everywhere.

Getting lots of never before customers, I'd imagine.

[City of Mills]

28. Restaurants are dropping like flies around here

One place downtown just opened this past summer, a new hot dog franchise for a company that had three other locations. This week there is brown wrapping paper coverng the windows and a "No Trespassing' sign on the door.

Also, an Indian restaurant that had been in business 20 years closed. It's heartbreaking, as it was one of my favorite restaurants and there's no place like it anywhere near here. Here's the local story about it - http://www.lowellsun.com/business/ci_11510703. The article also mentions a couple of other eateries which closed recently. I suspect there are several more which will close in the next few months.

[KharmaTrain]

29. The "Best" Is Yet To Come...

A week ago I heard a report saying that upwards of 300,000 businesses will close this year...that's a lot of empty malls and a lot of unemployed people.

Many chains are in a major bind...their operating costs shot up last year (remember those high oil prices???), sales and revenues have fallen and credit got very tight...a stranglehold few corporations are able to weather for a prolonged time...if at all. The economic collapse happened at the worst possible time for many of these companies...right before the Xmas season. It's brutal out there.

We had a Circus City open in a newly finished Mall at the end of August, they were one of the first to be closed when the company went Chapter 11...the employees probably had just gotten their benefit books...and poof.

BTW...when a company goes Chapter 7 or 11 these days, say good bye...and easy credit and pushing debt down the road days are gone.

[leftofthedial]

30. closing about as fast as Starbucks used to open.

[W_HAMILTON]

34. Yep.

Even though I notice the restaurants going out of business more often. One local place that we had been getting delivery from for years, suddenly closed up just a few months ago. Hell, a WENDY'S just closed up in my neck of the woods, and it's the only one around for a few miles.

Did I mention I saw a guy outside on the road advertising Circuit City's liquidation sale? About three miles away from the Circuit City location?

Yes, it's gotten pretty bad.

[trayfoot]

36. Yes, they are, unfortunately! But Wally World is booming!

[Imagevision]

37. Chrysler dumped 150 dealerships this month...

[cynatnite]

39. Actually, we are getting more stores...

Best Buy, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and quite a few other stores are coming in. This town is booming like it's the freaking 80's.

A lot of folks around here don't believe there is a recession going on. I live in NE TN, too, where denial isn't just a river in Egypt...it's also a state of mind.

[SoCalDem]

40. The "Unwinding" has begun

SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Sat Sep-27-08 11:53 AM
Original message

We've all been given another warning. Now we must choose..Unsustainability or an Unwinding?

This whole Wall Street Debacle is just another "clue" to us all.
The warp-speed of our lives is at the heart of the "problem". We have been cultivated to believe that we must always GROW, always crave MORE, BIGGER, BETTER, SHINIER...at any cost.

America has believed its own press for far too long. Our "experts" make up statistics all the time. We are told routinely that we are the most generous, the smartest, the most prosperous, the healthiest, and yet none of that is true.

Most Americans live with TWO truths....the truth they see every day where they live and the "truth" they see & hear on TV.

We have always been "major-urban" and "rural-small town" and although small town people now have access to more than they used to, their mindset has not changed all that much since the 40s & 50s.. They are the LAST to see much real progress, and the first to experience a serious downturn in the economy, since they live on the fringe...

"Government" has a vested interest in growth at any cost. The "bigger" things get, the more complicated they get, and the greater the need for more legislation and more government hiring to oversee that growth (even though very little real oversight happens).

Bigger companies mean higher paid and more lobbyists are available to donate MORE money to campaigns.

Workers during the Industrial Revolution were told that machines would lighten their workload, and give them more leisure time...It did..The problem was that leisure time turned out to be unemployment, since fewer workers were needed once machines took over many of the more mundane tasks.

In the 20' s& 30s, workers were told that the automobile would provide them with an easier life, and give them mobility. It did, but it also created whole new industries that fouled the air they breathed, and put a whole lot of people on the move to areas that were fragile and not all that hospitable to the farming that followed.. Over-farming, led to the Dust Bowl and the demise of many of them.

In the 50's & 60's we were told that computers would some day make our lives and jobs easier. I dearly love my computer, but truthfully, once many jobs were switched from pencil-on-paper or people face-to-face, it made it quite easy to find someone across the world, who would work for a lot less, to do those jobs.

Every "advancement" has come with its own "destruct" button built into it.

Malls and discount centers were wondrous to people when they first showed up, but those "big-boxes" and the stores held within them, were owned by people elsewhere, and all the money poured into them, did not stay in the community where it was spent.

The local businesses that had once managed to satisfy all the needs and wants of the community, were suddenly no longer "good enough", and many people went from being proprietor of their own business, to hourly-paid sales clerk.

Advertising has groomed us to want more and more and enough is never REALLY enough. Big business has to grow bigger and bigger, so we must continue to buy and buy and buy some more...even if we cannot afford it...and more and more of us can no longer afford to keep buying.

We have houses, FULL to the brim with "stuff" and the only solution to that is to buy even BIGGER houses, so we can buy more stuff. The bigger the house, the bigger the payment, so many people are paying thousands every month so their dog & cat have a great place to lounge in all day, as they sit stuck in traffic and huddled in a cubicle at work..and their kids grow up in daycare with strangers, or wear keys around their necks so they can hang out with the dog and cat for 3-4 hours until tired-Mom and tired-Dad show up with KFC or pizza, sometime around 7PM.

Most of us no longer even know HOW to live simply. Our lives , and expenses have spun out of control . We have "stuff" that we can no longer repair or service ourselves (even if we wanted to or had the time to). Things we watch, listen to, or use to call each other, often come with complicated long-term contracts, and we are always searching for better "deals" and more sophisticated "features", even though most of us either work too much to have time to really use them much, or we end up unemployed and unable to even afford them.

The bind we find ourselves in, is this.. We have allowed ourselves to be taken in, and while we were "sleeping", the rest of the world has caught up with us, and in many cases, passed us up entirely.

When we left "Main Street" in the dust, we gave the corporations permission to leave US in the dust too, if the price was right.

We allowed our labor to be diminished in value, to the point that now our economy is 70% "service".. This only works as long as enough of us have the "extra" money for all that "servicing".

In less than 40 years, we went from being the breadbasket of the world, and the major supplier of "things" to the world...to an importer of food (costly to us and the environment, in many ways), and importer of things we used to make here, but no longer do.

A relative few have gotten incredibly rich from this whole change-over, but millions more have gotten poorer and sicker from it. The people we hire to look out for our well-being, have sold out to their corporate-funders, and while they have free rein to speculate and enrich themselves, the taxpayers are always called upon to "repair" their damage they do to the economy every 20 years or so. This is all done while we , the people, are told to stand alone, be resposnsible, look out for ourselves, plot our own journey, be resourceful, be entrepreneurial, take responsibility for our own actions.

It may be too late to unwind now, and I truly fear for the younger ones among us. The unwinding will come..it always does, and I probably will be gone when it happens, but I'm not sure that our country will survive in a fashion we would recognize when it's all done..

[Tsiyu]

60. On the money, Honey

I have been thinking about you ever since things started tanking. I believe you were one of the posters starting threads about how to survive coming tough times.

As I recall many posters laughed the idea out of the water.

Many of us said "We don't WANT this to happen, we're not trying to frighten people, we just see the writing on the wall and want to discuss it."

Well, gee.

We don't have any big stuff here except a CVS which has just torn down an old hotel and is building a new pharmacy to replace the current one. We got a new Sonic last fall.

It's mostly ma & pa here, but some of them are hurting and just trying to hold on. But my folks in Atlanta say stores are tanking down there and there seems no end in sight.

[SoCalDem]

65. Yup.. waaaay back in "ought-three" , many of us were predicting/warning

..I was pilloried for even suggesting that boomers would NOT be able to reap the benefits of their/our 401-ks.. I even called them 101-ks, and had many people correct me and insist that the market was TOO "HUGH"..and it would NEVER ever even feel the withdrawls of the 401-ks.. They did not understand what I was saying,.,.What I meant was that by the time we were eligible to start taking it out, it would be conveniently "pre-removed" for our convenience & safety"..

Then I was criticized for suggesting that the next shoe to drop would be real estate..and that the final shoe would be credit card debt..

That's it..game over..

jobs
market/401-ks
banking
housing
credit card debt..

It was actually quite an orderly collapse, and very predictable..yet the Wharton Business School & HarvardPrincetonYalies somehow "missed it"..yeh right...

[Tsiyu]

88. It sucks to be right in this case, huh

But you were.

Wonder what happenned to all those folks calling you crazy? Don't see 'em on this thread!

:hi:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

42. Yes, it's pretty noticeable

especially in malls and along suburban highways.

Just yesterday, it was my turn to sit in on my mom's doctor appointment (she can't hear well and is a little bit confused), and I noticed that the restaurant where we used to go to lunch after these appointments is empty. This was up the road from a Circuit City, and we all know how those are faring.

The van from her assisted living place came to take her back, and I was pretty hungry, so I went over to the shopping mall across the freeway where I knew there were some restaurants. The restaurants I expected were all there, but there were spaces where stores used to be covered over with temporary walls, empty vendor's carts, and few people in the stores that were open.

Coming back a different way, I noticed more empty storefronts.

I'm not seeing that many in the city.

[leftstreet]

70. Suburban retail is getting trounced

I'm noticing the same thing here in WA. Just drive n/s/e/w from Seattle and things start to look empty.

[1776Forever]

43. Before we moved back to OH from FL we noticed dozens going out. Now in OH we see more.

We just went by a Taco Bell we had went to 2 weeks before and it was closed. Scary stuff!

[Bryn]

44. Yes

Quizno's and Alco closed a month before Christmas in this town. :(

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

45. A few favorites have closed

All the Steve and Barry's are closing, the one at The Block @ Orange closed last week before I got a chance to go back, I will have to try to get to the one at Ontario Mills before it closes too.

[FloridaJudy]

48. The bookstore was the first to go

Now the shopping center behind my apartment looks like a ghost town. The Winn Dixie building has been empty and for sale for almost two years, the craft store just went belly-up, Circuit City is closing its doors, and the Home Depot is looking none too robust right now. It's looks like we're down to a nail salon (how do all those manage to stay in business?) and a take-out-only Pizza Hut.

Pity, really, since I prefer to do all my shopping on foot. At least we still have bus service.

[Maat]

62. I'll tell you our nail salon stays in business ...

it's the place where everyone goes to de-stress about all of the other stuff that is happening (nothing like a great food massage, which they include with their pedicure).

Somehow, we find the spare change ...

[FloridaJudy]

73. I love pedicures

Though I've had to cut back, but why so many nail salons? Every strip mall has one, and the largest nearby shopping center has three. Granted, I'm a once-a-month pedicure customer at my most self indulgent, while those women I know with artificial fingernails seem to require weekly maintenance. And my local nail salon seems to be the place for little girls to hold birthday parties, complete with flowers painted on their minuscule pinkies.

That seems a little creepy to me - whatever happened to sleep-overs with popcorn, s'mores and pillow fights? Somehow I can't imagine their parents allowing Sasha and Malia to hold a birthday party in a nail salon, even if the Secret Service didn't freak. I can see a bit of the attraction for the parents: there's not a heckuva lot of mischief kids can get into while waving their fingers in the air waiting for the polish to dry.

Still feels a little creepy to me. I avoid the place on week ends.

[Maat]

84. We ALL avoid those places on weekends.

Oh, well.

Take care.

[tilsammans]

95. Agree. I love my pedicures, but . . .

. . . why are there SO many nail salons? Especially when a lot of hair salons offer nail services too. In my rinky-dink town, we've got four nail salons (including a huge new nail and spa salon) on a .75-mile stretch.
:shrug:

And I hear ya re the spa parties for the littlest tykes. It kinda creeps me out.

[tinrobot]

49. Linens & Things, Mervyns, Shoe Warehouse, Circuit City....

I could keep going...

[L0oniX]

50. Florida is going out of business.

The only store that's got a lot of customers is WalFart.

[The Backlash Cometh]

51. yes

[WCIL]

52. At a shopping center near me

the only things hanging on are Dollar General, Big Lots, and a Kroger and JC Penney each in desperate need of an update. Across the parking lot there was a Mexican restaurant, a Goody's, and a Dave and Barry's - all closed. It is eerie.

[Le Taz Hot]

53. So many in my area.

Miller Sheet Music, opened in 1942. Gone
Lauck's Bakery,opened in 1947. Gone
Gottschalk's
Mervyns
Circuit City
Countless mom & pop furniture and clothing stores
Numerous restaurants, including in the foo-foo part of town
One of our major malls, Manchester Center, virtually empty

And I'm told this is just the beginning as 2009 will be worse.

[dysfunctional press]

54. some have closed- but the buildings remain...

it would freak me OUT...

buildings start disappearing-

right before my eyes.

[yorkie]

55. Manhattan's Upper East Side

We have it too. Stores closing everywhere. But years ago we had lots of stores that disappeared and every empty space became a bank. We will see where that goes...

[AwakeAtLast]

56. Three in this small town

At least three in the bigger town next to us.

A lot more are already long gone.

[NMDemDist2]

57. I went to a small Sears today. They only sell TVs and appliances and lawn stuff

no clothes or housewares just big ticket stuff

the owner who was helping us was complaining they have room for 18 display TVs they only had 7. They were pitching a fit cuz it's almost SuperBowl and with the HD switch over they figure they could sell a bunch of TVs if they could get them......

[struggle4progress]

58. The smaller places in strip malls are disappearing -- including some that have been there for years

[Celebration]

61. Walgreen's near us does really well....

Harold's (clothing store) is closing. Zoe's (cosmetics) closed.

These have been in existence here a long time.

[yowzayowzayowza]

63. They just put a new shopping center in here.

Tho a coupla more projects seem to be on hold.

:shrug:

[SoCalDem]

66. Contracts are made years in advance, and work contracted/paid for gets built

and when the money runs out..it's stopped..

There was a new restaurant under construction near us.. and then one day.everyone just left....It;s been that way for 6 months now..

[yowzayowzayowza]

72. The free standing Starbucks at the next exit was ...

closed after only a few months operation. There still building houses 'round here too. The new fwy bridge over the river has made this area alot more accessible.

[readmoreoften]

64. Yes. Lots of spaces. And I'm in one of the most recession-proof eras.

[Jack Sprat]

69. Yes ma'am. Most definitely.

They are closing down faster than trees disappearing from the rain forest. They are disappearing faster than ice melting off the Arctic shelf; faster than lies off Bush's lips; faster than pills off Fatman's oxycontin shelf.

[DeschutesRiver]

71. Every time we go out to run errands

we notice several places closed for good. This is in Central Oregon, about a 75+ mile radius. Started seeing this over a year ago, but it has noticeably escalated in the last 6 months. The businesses that are staying open are laying off or letting people go in ever increasing numbers. It is numbing to watch.

The new big box stores that opened in the last year or so are empty - HD, Lowes, etc. There never was a crowd in any of them, but they are now empty of customers, but full of abnormally cheerful and ready to chat or help employees, who are desperately hoping their jobs won't get the axe because of the timing.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

74. Tons

Lost Steve and Barry's, Goody's, Circuit City, KB Toys, Linens and Things and Value City Department Store - all in one mall in the course of 6 months

[Radical Activist]

75. Yes. Several.

Some analysts have argued there were already more shopping stores than the nation could support and now it can't be sustained. It would be nice if we could rebuild the economy around locally owned stores rather than the big chains.

[sohndrsmith]

76. Tons. A big mall was just built - maybe a year and a half ago,

at most two, and the stores are dropping like flies (Circuit City, Linens and Things, a sports-related big box store... and some smaller ones, but the bigger name stores were probably supposed to be the draw). Of course there's a Wal-Mart, so that explains a lot.

As much as I don't like shopping at Wal-Mart, I am not in the position to pay substantially more for the same product at Circuit City or a home decor place like Linens and Things - I never even set foot in that store...). There is no way these stores can compete for many basic items, I'm afraid... at least I assume that could be part of it.

It's sort of scary, because this entire area was desert only a few years ago and they built this shiny new mall, and some big stores are dying. I would have expected that to take several more years to happen, not as they were expanding, it's so new... creepy.

[Urban Prairie]

77. The Wal*Mortification

Of the US enters its next phase. Will there ultimately be only representative monopolistic mega-companies left standing for each of the types of businesses we frequent?

One place to buy food, one to buy electronics/software, one to ship packages/parcels/mail (goodbye USPS) one to buy clothing, one to purchase/lease cars/trucks, one to buy hardware, one to purchase insurance, one to repair/service vehicles, one to buy gas, one to dine out, one to obtain lodging, one to travel in jets/planes, ect...

Since the Chinese and perhaps India are poised to enter the US vehicle market within the next decade, IF they are allowed to do so, they will find easy pickings amongst the huge numbers of former middle-class citizens who will only be able to afford old used vehicles or cheap new Chinese peasant-manufactured vehicles. This will kill what is left of the domestic vehicle industry (if there is any left by that time) and the Japanese/Korean vehicle industry will say sayonara to building cars in the US and move their operations back overseas, not to their home countries, but to smaller nations with cheap slave labor, in order to compete.

If McCain/Palin won the election I would believe that the above scenario was almost a slam-dunk, but perhaps President Obama can help avert most of it. We shall see.

[lostnfound]

79. Yes. "Liquidation-sign-wearer" is only growing job category for the Bush years.

I've wanted to take a picture of these people and label it as such, but can't find my camera.

[undeterred]

80. There were 3 of them outside Circuit City

but the signs covered up the people. I read that the liquidators aren't marking stuff down very much.

[lostnfound]

92. We've had them here for Circuit City lately but recently for other stores as well.

Some small clothing store, for one.

[byronius]

81. Capitol Wholesale Electrical (60 years), Cellphone store next door, Mervyn's, many others.

Sacramento has the highest rate of foreclosures in the nation. Huge wave. Now Schwarzenegger is furloughing the state employees --

We're hanging on by our fingernails. Sales were down 35% in November and December. We're just starting to sort of recover. Day by day, all you can do. I hear it from my suppliers in New Jersey and the Bronx. Everybody's freaked.

[Exen Trik]

82. Around here some places like Big Boy have closed

But incidentally, a new discount grocer has popped up down the way. Lots of foods for a dollar or two, milk cheaper than most sodas, and many things with damaged packaging.

It may not be a great sign of the economy, but I'm glad to have it.

[tomreedtoon]

83. Closing "lifestyle" stores, building new vacant stores.

Many of these stores seem to be "lifestyle" stores. Expensive furniture designed to make you look sophisticated. Clothing to make you look fashionable. Boiled mud (a.k.a. coffee) to make you seem hip. Electronic toys to make you seem connected. Most of the mall stores are exercises in pretension. (Snooty clerks turning up their nose at you in GAP stores. Imagine, joints that sell jeans, the cheapest and most utilitarian clothing on Earth...and these retards act condescending to you, the customer!)

With economic downturn, image is the last thing on the minds of people. Many of us stopped pretending a long time ago; others are now being forced to stop pretending.

Okay, that being said...why are there so many construction projects building new malls and strip malls? There is a huge, pretty place that's just gone up near me, on a major thoroughfare in Orlando. There are NO tenants listed. There are duplicate strip malls nearby - and a Wal-Mart Supercenter is a few blocks away. Who thought building this was a good idea? Who decided to go through with the building plans anyway, knowing nobody was moving in?

Learn this lesson: businessmen are not gods, as Donald Trump used to pretend. They are idiots. They are self-destructive, and have taken our nation down to Hell with their own shallow souls.

[BluePatriot]

85. Just the chains we all know about

We lost our Linens 'n Things and the Circuit City is closing up. Small restaurants seem to have a lack of business too.
I am seeing anytime I go to the Target or HEB empty shelves...
Luckily our fave Indian place reverted to a buffet setup at dinnertime and they are packed now. (The vindaloo sure suffered for it - like tomato sauce)

[surrealAmerican]

86. No more than usual, but ...

... a few planned major construction jobs (for "high-end" condos with retail space) seem to be on indefinite hold. One a few blocks away from me is seeing the bank foreclosing on the developer.

[blue_onyx]

87. We have a bunch of empty stores but some have been empty for years

In the central shopping district in my city, there's an empty Best Buy (they moved to a new building down the street years ago), an old Sam's Club (they moved to the neighboring city), Service Merchandise, and a movie theater. Right near my house, we had three strip malls that lost their biggest tenants but they have filled in with discount stores. The Sears Hardware is still empty though. We also have an empty Walmart because they built a new SuperCenter down the road.

Stores that have closed recently: Linens n Things, TJ Maxx, a tile store, a Showcase Cinema, and a local grocery store. The local mall lost two stores, KB Toys and Fan Zone. Several stores will be closing soon, including Circuit City and all the La Z Boy furniture showrooms in the Detroit area.

I'm sure more will follow. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kmart, Gap, Old Navy, the rest of the TJ Maxx stores, and others to follow soon.

[KatyaR]

89. Yes here in OKC.

We have a major mall that is in foreclosure; all the anchor tenants have closed up, and it's now on a "bad" side of town. The owners are hopeful someone will buy it--I'm not seeing it.

Up on the northwest side of town, which is where all the new construction is and where the old rich and "nuevo-riche" live, we have lost or are in the process of losing (within a 3-5 mile radius, most of these within the last 6 months):

Fire Mountain restaurant
2 Circuit Citys
CompUSA
Hollywood Video
2 Starbucks
Carrabbas restaurant
Steak 'n Ale
Bennigan's
a Denny's restaurant
Cheeseburgers in Paradise
a local deli
a very high-end pet accessories store that catered to the really wealthy
a gift shop
a flower shop (that had been there forever and that was once owned by a childhood friend until she died of cancer--very sad)
a liquor store
Bahama Breeze restaurant (great location on the shores of Lake Hefner; now converting into a mexican restaurant)
Pearl's Lakeside restaurant (converted into a different restaurant)

...and yet multi-million dollar homes ("castles" is more like it) continue to be built in the Gaillardia addition, and the fundy megachurch next door to my office is expanding like crazy. They're adding on to their "church" building and will soon be starting a new gym and a high school building for their school system. :puke:

It's absolute insanity . . . .

[lynne]

90. Some of the stores NEED to be gone -

- our Circuit City was an example of how to NOT run a retail establishment. The cashiers stood around talking to each other and wouldn't offer help, they were rude if you asked them a question and they usually could not give you an answer and they often didn't have what I was looking for. I walked out of that place several times in disgust and moved my business to Best Buy.

Stores must learn to compete - either by price, superior customer service or product availability - or die in this economy.

[Kajsa]

91. Yes!

We've had the following closures within the past few
months,

Pet City
Mervyn's
Linens for Less
Circuit City

those are the ones I remember right now,
and more are facing closures soon.

It is very sad.

:(

[tigereye]

93. there seem to be a lot of empty store fronts, particularly in the suburbs

As they built more and more strip malls the last few years, I couldn't help but wonder how these businesses were going to stay afloat and who was going to buy all the products in them. As it turned out, the economy and disappearance of easy credit couldn't sustain all of em. I feel bad for all the employees, though. What angers me is all these banks and financial institutions that were oh so ready to lend money earlier, and now, with govt. bailout funds in hand, are refusing to lend to legitimate businesses that need that money to stay afloat!


It's aggravating, and could have been prevented! :grr:

I

[Dukkha]

94. Zales may be going for good this year

after I just bought three lifetime warranties for our wedding bands and engagement ring from them last year. :(

[BelgianMadCow]

97. I see or hear nothing like that round here

obviously, we're undergoing the "typical" 10 % job cuts by the corporations (imho to a large extent because now they can), but store-wise things haven't changed so far. We don't have a mall culture at all though.

Yesterday, the largest financial paper titled "the worst of the crisis is past in Belgium", citing an increase in industry and consumer confidence.

That's laughable for a country that depends to a very large extent on export/import. So I don't believe for a second we will be spared - but the speed of things is clearly not the same.