Are malls dying?

Malls are going downhill inAmericaright now.  Many malls are shutting down and newer malls aren’t coming up anymore.  Out of 2,000 large malls, 400 are closing down because they are not making enough business.  There are also many vacancies within the malls because not enough people are opening up stores there.

The retail business is going downhill because too many people are using the internet to shop for goods that they want.  Companies like Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay are using E-Commerce to sell products.  The goods will be shipped to your home.  This is more convenient for people because they do not have to go out when they can have items shipped to them. Instead of going to the actual mall, they will look for it online.  They will save money as well because there are deals online that you cannot beat.  Malls usually get their money from discretional spending.  That is the money you have after you pay your bills.  Since this is in a depression, there is less money to spend so people rather save online.   People are also spending their money at Wal-Mart and Target where they can save money. The full price department stores cost too much money and people cannot afford it.   Also malls have non essential items that are not being bought as much due to the recession.

By using e=commerce, you may save so much money that the shipping price and time it takes to arrive at your home is worth it.  But there are problems with shopping online because it is not as user friendly.  You cannot try on you’re a purse to see how it looks or you cannot try on an outfit to see if it fits you well.  You have to rely on thee statistics given to you by the company that sells the products.  Sometimes this information may be wrong.  So you will buy the product and it does not fit you so you would want a refund.

Malls are using innovative ways to bring people to the malls now.  Since traveling is becoming too expensive people have the “staycation” where they travel in their city and experience a local place.  So the malls are opening up more restauraunts within the malls so people can visit.  This is driving traffic to the malls in order to get people to buy from the retail stores as well. So there are also ice skating rinks, rock climbing, arcades, bowling alleys, movie theaters and other fun excursions that malls are trying to bring back.  You can meet people at malls as well so it is more of a social experience.

Malls are not going anywhere but they will be drastically reduced to will look different.  It will be more social friendly to attract people to come and have fun.  There will be innovative ways to attract people to come and spend their time.

 

http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2012/09/25/are-malls-dying/

 

http://theweek.com/article/index/94691/the-vanishing-shopping-mall