How To Tell When a Mall Is In Trouble

recession time?

in Canada, a lot of people wander on the mall, but few of this buy things. In the USA, a lot of malls are closing due to job unemployments. When the anchor store closes, then the tndency of people goes to other malls where they have big names. Shopping in China is really trendy. Wonder how can all this people goes for shopping all day long! you have to push your way to get to where you want to check some items.

business now aday goes thru internet shopping where you can have a nice day at home and relax till the doorman delivers the item to your doorstep.

rem @ Nov 23, 2009 21:44:02 PM

spend as your earn??

as long as credit system exist, human being will always stretch to the last cent that they have to spend now that will be paid by future income - 20 yrs from now. what we have done so far is to accelerate our future money to the present time so that we can enjoy life consistently throughout our life insted of waiting till our tail end life to spend our supposedly life time saving.

david of ME @ Nov 09, 2009 02:22:59 AM

Another Thing I Noticed

Sue of NJ told it very much like it is. Her thoughts are very true. But, there's another thing that I observed. When the internet finally "took off and started flying high", many retailers took a risk and decided to try selling their merchandise on the web. Guess what? For many, that risky move - at the time - payed off BIG. Now, let's fast forward to today. Even if prices are about the same, the consumer doesn't have to leave his or her home to buy something. Mr. or Mrs. Consumer can just place an order on the web, pay for it however, and sit back and wait for it to arrive. These days, it doesn't take long for your order to arrive. No more hassles of driving to the mall, searching for a parking space, dealing with crowds, and dealing with rude sales people - and other rude customers. Is it any wonder that a large number of malls are in danger of "biting the dust?"

Dave J of Boston MA of MA @ Nov 08, 2009 21:04:36 PM

Stanford Mall, Palo Alto, CA

This is a lovely mall with many high-end (expensive) stores.

If you shop at the Stanford Mall, you'll wonder where the recession is. It's not here! I had a hair appointment that I was late for because I couldn't find parking near the salon (it was a rainy day.) Certainly, stores are not as crowded as they once were, but there are still plenty of customers.

One thing those stores could do to improve business is to hire and train more staff. It may seem counter intuitve to hire more staff, but a good sales person can definitely increase sales. An over extended salesperson is too tired to be helpful or push more sales.

When a customer is wandering around Macy's, for instance, trying to find a sales assistant and an open register, it's a big turn off and definitely endures that the customer won't buy anything else.

As for me--if I have to waste my valuable time like that, I tend to dump the item. It's amazing how often I subsequently realize I was about to buy something I liked but didn't need.

The key to success in any business is customer service.

Marty of CA @ Nov 08, 2009 14:10:51 PM

Didn't see this coming?

I live in a very small town with the nearest mall being 40 miles away. It surprises me to see new "malls" being built a few blocks away with vacant space still available in the mall. One question I have had for a long time is, don't mall owners have their thumbs on the pulse of the shopping community? Can't they see trends and ups and downs in the markets far enough in advance to see them coming? Maybe no one knew about the potential disaster of housing market crash and subsequent economic collapse of banks and financial institutions. Seems someone kept things quiet for a long time unitl all hell broke loose. Didn't see it coming. Personally, I was never really able to shop the malls except for the sales. And I never shop WalMart unless I have to. I stick to local retailers as much as possible.

Wanda of WA @ Oct 23, 2009 15:31:27 PM

Sue of NJ

If you have seen one Mall you've seen them all. Almost all shops are clothing stores of some kind with poor quality, nothing unique, outlandish fashions for size 2 teen/young people. Anchor stores are boring and have all the same high priced, poor quality merchandise. The anchor stores are so crowded with stuff, you can't get through the isles. Most Americans, male and female are overweight and the baby boomers are aging. In most malls, you may find one or two poor quality shops for the majority of this large, and aging population. Malls direct sales toward a society of skinny kids. My friends and I have the money to spend but there is nothing in the malls to attract us. The teenagers hang out there, it's a place where they socialize. None of the people I know shop in the Mall any more. I agree it is a poor use of time.

Sue Madzin of NJ @ Oct 23, 2009 00:38:49 AM

malls are too much trouble and too expensive

malls are high priced and in a time when people want to cut costs there are other places like TJ max, marshalls,target, walmart and stores like that, that you cant get to in a mall. If I am shopping for clothing I will go to a Mall but never on a weekend or in the evenings. (too scary). plus most malls are so big I get lost or weary looking for what I want. I think malls have become good places for teens to hang out or get out of the heat in the summer but to go shopping, forget it.

Donna,

donna of CA @ Oct 23, 2009 00:13:15 AM

creepy

When my son was young we had no AC in our otherwise very

nice new home. We went shopping alot at the climate controlled

malls and what creeped me out when my now 29 year old was

2 is that one strip mall built on RT 59 in Carol Stream, ILL was

never occuppied, left vacant and quickly looked like a deserted

ghost town, delapitated, overgrown with weeds and much wasted

building materials, all new and never filled.

Mary C Krebs of AR @ Oct 22, 2009 20:54:48 PM