Corporate Death Watch

Quote:

Landlords have malls they’d like to unload. But who’d want to buy them?

Only about $3 billion of retail real estate changed hands in April, a 27 percent drop from a year earlier and the lowest monthly tally since February 2013, according to the latest data from Real Capital Analytics Inc.

Mall giants such as Simon Property Group Inc. and GGP Inc. are spending billions to update their centers, adding experiences that can’t be found online and reinventing the cavernous spaces left behind by failing department stores. But there’s a growing set of lower-tier malls that have slid too far toward irrelevance to be worth a costly overhaul.

“It’s a tough environment. I don’t think anybody really anticipated the decline of the department store to happen as quickly as it did,” said Joe Coradino,

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/owners-of-failing-malls-on-their-knees-as-buyers-disappear/ar-AAyxbfB?ocid=spartanntp

The local enclosed mall that opened in 1973 (converted from a strip mall) just spent $5 million makeover and brought in SkyZone trampoline park.

Less than two years later the anchor department store declared bankruptcy. Almost all the storefronts are empty.



A nearby outdoor mall looks like this now for about four years.

Quote: Pacomartin

The local enclosed mall that opened in 1973

Haven't been in a mall in
25 years, can't imagine why
I would go there. I have
Walmart, Meijer (similar to
Walmart), and Home Depot
for home stuff. And Dollar
Tree.

This is Meijer, they have 160
stores in 5 states. I go for the
produce, they have a enormous
selection.

Quote: Evenbob

Haven't been in a mall in
25 years, can't imagine why
I would go there. I have
Walmart, Meijer (similar to
Walmart), and Home Depot
for home stuff. And Dollar
Tree.

I keep going to the one where I went growing up. Once almost 200 stores down to 12 and falling. What is amazing is that Victoria's Secret + Bath and Body Works seem to remain profitable. This mall has the feeling of a bombed out city in 1945, but those two places are well kept and seem to keep doing business.

Quote: AZDuffman

I keep going to the one where I went growing up. Once almost 200 stores down to 12 and falling. .

By 1975 there were 16,400 malls making up 33% of all retail sales and by 1987 there were 30,000 malls accounting for 50% of all retail dollars spent. The mall had taken over America.
Mall culture had truly arrived in the United States. Films and TV shows proliferated the idea of the “valley girl,” and the “mall rat.” In 1992, at the height of mall culture, The Mall of America, not too far from the first mall in Edina, Minnesota, opened its doors. The Mall of America occupied 78 acres making it the largest mall in the United States. On opening day The Mall of America had 330 stores, an amusement park, and employed 10,000 people. By the mid-1990s, however, the concept of "the mall" had hit its peak. 140 malls were being built a year, creating too much competition.

The first two big malls opened
here in 1967. It was a huge deal.
Gigantic. The big one even had
a movieplex, no more going into
the city for a movie. I remember
going to the mall every day in
1990 to walk. There were walkers
everywhere, I wonder if they
still do that in the winter.

Quote: Evenbob

The first two big malls opened
here in 1967. It was a huge deal.
Gigantic. The big one even had
a movieplex, no more going into
the city for a movie. I remember
going to the mall every day in
1990 to walk. There were walkers
everywhere, I wonder if they
still do that in the winter.

People used to go to the mall just to kill time. Maybe you bought something while you were there. A kind of main street. It got you out of the house and social. Eventually the "senior mall walker" was the morning clientele. My secretary worked at Burger King before with a free coffee for seniors with any purchase, and they all bought a cookie, cheapest thing. Her store led in cookie sales.

The internet let you virtually get out, then groups like meetup.com gave social outlets. ISP, cell phone, and increasing cable costs all started eating into that disposable "maybe you bought something" money.

Now it is mostly gone. Some walkers, but not what there used to be. The "mall store chains" are mostly gone. Radio Shack to Merry-Go-Round. Remember the record store? By the early 1990s, those little mall stores were consolidating, more space but less stores.

IMHO, some will remain, and they will have to remodel and look new. Check out the new mall under the new WTC. It is done in white and real clean looking. Almost hurts the eyes. But people love it. It will be new kinds of stores. Though nowhere near the square footage that we have now.

There is one in New Jersey, Phillipsburg Mall 1200 Route 22 Phillipsburg, NJ 08865 • Phone: (908) 454-4760

It was sold to Mason Asset Management for $11.5 million in 2013 (578,925 square feet) or roughly $20 square foot. A national average of stands between $325 and $450 for new construction of many mall projects. Now it looks like they overpaid at $11.5 million. I was shocked. There were four anchors, J.C. Penney, Sears, Bon-Ton and Kohl’s.

Since then three of the four anchors close, and only Kohl's remains open. An antique store moved into the JC Penney location. Basically it's a half a million square feet of junk.

Before the last closing it was ranked #27 out of 29 malls in New Jersey.

Black Rose Antiques
Kohl’s
Victoria’s Secret
H&M
Old Navy
Kay Jewelers
Asian Gifts
AT&T Bath & Body Works
Blue Mars Vapor
GameStop
GNC Live Well
Matthew’s Hallmark
Men’s Wearhouse and Tux
Piercing Pagoda
Spin Me Round Sports Collectibles
T-Mobile
Verizon Wireless
Luxury Nails & Spa
MasterCuts
iFix & More
McMann Tax Service
Phillipsburg Family Dental
Regis Relaxation Spa
Gold’s Gym
Weight Watchers
Trans-Bridge Lines and Tours
Bruno’s Pizza
Chick-fil-A
Starbucks
Panera Bread
Taco Bell
Friendly’s

Quote: Pacomartin

Since then three of the four anchors close, and only Kohl's remains open.

I don't know how Kohl's is open.
They're prices suck. I have a Kohl's
CC and never use it. Whenever I
need something Walmart and
Target always have same item
much cheaper. The only thing
I can figure is Kohl's will give
credit to almost anybody, that's
why they're still in business.

Quote: Evenbob

I don't know how Kohl's is open.

Well I doubt that Kohl's can stay open as the only department store in a 600K square foot mall. There are four other Kohls in the region.

The owners have essentially given up and will probably knock down the mall and try to build office space. The five fast food places are built on pads separate from the main mall. Only the pizza place is actually in the mall itself.

Bruno’s Pizza
Chick-fil-A
Starbucks
Panera Bread
Taco Bell
Friendly’s

Quote: Evenbob

I don't know how Kohl's is open.
They're prices suck. I have a Kohl's
CC and never use it. Whenever I
need something Walmart and
Target always have same item
much cheaper. The only thing
I can figure is Kohl's will give
credit to almost anybody, that's
why they're still in business.

I would say that I buy the majority of my casual clothes at Kohl;s. Their prices always seemed good to me for the quality. I use Kohls.com, I do not go into the store.