Dead Malls and the Generational Cycle

[pbrower2a]

(01-01-2017, 05:23 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:

(01-01-2017, 12:27 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: But even ethnic change can hurt the mall. The boutique stores inside are tailor-made for well-heeled white middle-class shoppers but because of their rigid style of management, they can't adapt to ethnic change even if the potential clientele is still middle-class if the potential customers in the area are now black, Asian, or Hispanic.

Good post but I'm not sure I agree with this part.  There's pretty high turnover in mall boutique stores, even in healthy malls; I'd expect ethnic changes to be reflected in the store population within a few years.

I'm not sure whether you refer to the staff or to the stores. Boutique stores in the malls at one time were basically the same entities (like Chess King, Hickory Farms of Ohio, County Seat, Spencer Gifts, B. Dalton, Waldenbooks, Musicland.... one could expect to see the same chains whether one was in Arlington, Texas or Arlington, Virginia). It was a homogeneous experience, probably linked to the fact that American middle-class (then largely white) households were mobile. But it also reflected the blandness of middle-class life in the early 1960s, and several of those chains no longer exist.

Store staff of course had a very high turnover, reflecting much firing of marginal employees (especially those stupid enough to believe that they could take from the till) and the tendency of people to work in such places only until they got something better. That's the nature of low-paid work; it gets bad workers and creates a m attitude among those capable of doing something else.

I notice that many malls are having a hard time retaining lessees.

Quote:

Quote:The idea behind the traditional department store was that the clerks who would remain employed for some time would be knowledgeable about the merchandise.

I miss sales people who actually knew their merchandise and could provide good information and recommendations as part of their service.  I'm not sure they were ever common at malls, though.  Seems like most boomers are more interested in lowest price than in best value for the price.

Sears, J C Penney, and Montgomery-Ward... maybe Woolworth's at one time... may have operated with that mystique at one time. Nobody believes that anymore. K-Mart, Wal*Mart, Target, Meijer, and Kohl's now operate more like grocery stores in that one does self-service and takes purchase to a centralized checkout. The idea that one could purchase groceries, housewares, sporting goods,   clothing, and recorded sound at the same register used to be unthinkable. Now such is the norm for the middle class and the working classes. There are now stores that still offer the mystique of the old department store and specialty store, but those are dedicated to people still free-spenders who lack the time in which to compare prices.