Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Tuesday April 25 2017, @04:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-need-for-pants dept.

In the 1980's people wrote about malls as cultural centers, as temples to shopping. Now, they're dying.

Many observers are speculating about the growing trend of so-called dead malls: once-flourishing, large retail spaces that now have a high vacancy rate, low numbers of pedestrian traffic, or the lack of an "anchor" store (typically a department chain). Is it because of economic recession, or stagnant middle-class wages and growing income inequality? Or has the death of these malls been hastened by the rapid growth of online shopping?

It's difficult to say, but the dead mall phenomenon is becoming a cultural item of interest -- for retail historians, urban explorers and documentarians alike. We may read about dead malls in The New York Times or The Atlantic, but film footage can say much more than words.

Is Amazon to blame?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:46PM

    by sjames (2882) on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:46PM (#499565) Journal

    The bank doesn't get 1B back because they have to sell the thing first. But since they foreclosed, it is no longer a going concern, so it devalues even faster. By the time they get around to selling, it isn't a slightly out of date mall with a 50% occupancy, it's a ghost building featuring a rat condo. That is, if they don't neglect it to the point that it has actual negative value (since it will cost to tear the thing down).

    OTOH, if they just deal with it when the rent is lowered to get shops in, so long as the mortgage is still being paid, it might just make it as the economy improves. If not, it still defaults to the rat condo, but at least they got more payments out of it.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2