Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Retail Footprint

U.S. Stores Are Too Big, Boring and Expensive

This is a generational realignment in the way consumers spend their discretionary dollars, and the ramifications and economic dislocations are going to last for decades.
This year alone there will be several thousand store closings. Hold aside for a moment the debacle that is Sears/Kmart -- that has as much to do with complex financial engineering as anything else -- and consider the ongoing changes in retail sales trends. Many factors are driving weakness in U.S. retailing: 

The Bloomberg article written by Barry Ritholtz has lots more.  Click on the headline above.

Personally I think he's sugar coating.  We really won't have any uses for these storefronts at any price.  Unlike the old mills of New England they won't last long enough to find new purpose.   

Edit:  Added this cartoon.

61 comments:

LBD said...

First!

I have enough stuff, enjoy bring used stuff back to life.

Lawyerliz said...

We were at Cocoa Village having lunch at a decidedly non chain restaurant. I don't think there are any chains there. Reasonable full. Lots of people walking up and dowe the street. Some tourists, some locals, all ages. Some new construction. An active playhouse, recently refurblished. A park on the side next to the river. No big or medium nbox store. A historical society bldg. Thai, French, steak, vegan, parking a couple blocks away,.and on street, very walkable. But clothes are only resort style. Home Depo, which is anchor in a small strip mall, is always very busy, and always has a lot of people to help you. Seems like the malls should look at what is successful and try to adapt some of that.

Lawyerliz said...

Help, the turtles are out of control. I was chopping sawgrass, the yard guy doesn't do it close to plants. And I was chopping near the gardenia bus and found a turtle hole I stuck a long piece of sawgrass down the hole and it went in a least 5 feet. Didn't feel a turtle and didn't feel the end of the hole. A palace down there. A bricked n over area at the other end of the fenced in back yard was ruined and will now have to be concreted. I like the turtles,bit they are becoming very destructive.

Lawyerliz said...

Dow up a smidge.

LBD said...

Video idea Turtles Gone Wild!

Lawyerliz said...

Except they are almost always down in their hole. They see us, they run fast into their hole

Lawyerliz said...

It's just you and me, LBD. Sad.

LBD said...

I guess the others really like the mud wrestling.

The new world is not looking that good with technology boom cranking up again. Leaves to many behind and that leads to trouble. :(

Rob Dawg said...

I'm off and on the blog this morning. Taking a break right now from the veggie garden rehab. Soooo many weeds/grasses.

We used to have problems with 1st world/3rd world. The new divides are not respecting borders. As savvy as i think i am the idea that Tesla is worth more than Ford is beyond my ability to understand. The idea that Snap has any value mystifies me.

Then again i order via Alibaba or Aliexpress almost weekly. Not a total troglodyte.

As a consequnce it worries me greatly that the likes of google and twitter are unabashedly filtering reality for their profit and pleasure.

Lawyerliz said...

Almost no houses built on Merritt Island for 10 or so years. Now someone who got a permit. Got 16 in 2005 wants to build 40. Protesting of course. Jobs are being added here, where do they expect them to live? Frank wrote a lether saying he didn't mind waiting a few extra minutes at a red light.

Lawyerliz said...

Oops F= hub.

Lawyerliz said...

Some idiot surfers surfing in Debbie.

Lawyerliz said...

Yep, yep, and yep.

Rob Dawg said...

N.B. Added a funny cartoon to the top post.

Trying to remember the last new home in my 'hood. There is about one scrape and rebuild every year.

psychodave said...

[Rob Dawg] "The idea that Snap has any value mystifies me."
I humbly submit this to be the classic PEAK MARKET flag. At least sock puppets had non-zero tangibles.

Your full disclosure shows far too much sanity to be in this stock market.

Encinitas Undercover said...

Aren't we supposedly having a homeless crisis? How about use the big box stores for homeless shelters?

LBD said...

Looks like we may get a new house in the neighborhood. Something staked out last week in a very poor ditch lot. They removed trees and did some fill dirt last year. The few lots left are the least desirable in the subdivision. In town a few new to replace the old firewood that will continue to rot. No growth and the mall continues a slow death.

EngineerJim said...

Maybe they can repurpose failed big-box stores into homeless shelters.

Rob Dawg said...

Another California problem. The weeds are almost too pretty to pull.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xnhTUByPbYQ/WNqZab3UKgI/AAAAAAAAI9w/fpt0tH6ByrsV6LZNd8pvosMLWYufZOGVgCLcB/s1600/SAM_1389.jpg

Lawyerliz said...

I like Target. The others can go.

Rob Dawg said...

Agreed, Target can stay.

Lawyerliz said...

Somebody would protest a lot for some reason. Ahhh, not enough toilets.

Lawyerliz said...

If the others left Target could make decent money. I wish someone has asked me about Burdines, before it got eaten. And I bet Marshall Field's customers would have liked a say.

Lawyerliz said...

And Filene's

Lawyerliz said...

There was a time when I spent a lot of money at Burdines. Maceys is not at all special, although it once was.

Lawyerliz said...

I don't know what Snap is.

Lawyerliz said...

Or so some older New Yorkers say.

Lawyerliz said...

Oh, I looked it up. BLeh.

EngineerJim said...

>Aren't we supposedly having a homeless crisis? How about use the big box stores for homeless shelters?

Didn't see your comment, but yeah agree.
Even though big box stores weren't built for that purpose, it must be better for the homeless person than sleeping on the street.

And yes we must be having a homeless crisis now that a Rep is POTUS!

Cinco-X said...

Are you crazy? Gopher turtle holes are a favorite place for Eastern Diamond Backs to rest during the heat of the day. Seriously!

Cinco-X said...

They actually cohabitate with the turtles, so seeing a turtle go in is no guarantee that there isn't a rattle snake in there too

Cinco-X said...

https://www.statnews.com/2017/03/21/science-research-fail/

Unknown said...

Whole Foods put in a scaled down version of one of their stores where a JC Penny's used to be at one of our nearby malls..seems to be doing pretty good business from what I have seen.

Unknown said...

They actually cohabitate with the turtles,

turtle to snake..."hey did you hear the news...Zillow says our home went up $100 today!!" ;<)

Lawyerliz said...

Hahahahehehehohoho

Rob Dawg said...

Snake: "I went on the website and mentioned the added basement."

Unknown said...

"if only we could get rid of those pesky humans that live upstairs we could really get this place fixed up!!"

Lawyerliz said...

Only 50$. Today.

Lawyerliz said...

You are are just jealous you be don't have big turtles.

Rob Dawg said...

Still averaging +$500/day here but it takes only one sale of a "comparable" property to knock $30k off in a day.

The Pride of Madera bushes are about to bloom. Get ready for some great pics. Maybe even some hummers on the flowers.

Rob Dawg said...

Heck yeah I'm jealous. Gots me just about every other bit of the animal kingdom represented here. No turtles or tortises. The peepers are insane loud these days. One interesting thing is that the raptors are way up in the mountains because the rain is making for bunnies and rodents by the millions. No need to be down here until the dry season.

Lawyerliz said...

Cool.

LBD said...

Briefly talked to my friend losing her job at JC Penney. Not sure what she is going to do. She confirmed the closing of Payless shoes as well. Mall is dying fast now. :(

Cinco-X said...

7 course meal in the Florida panhandle: a big gopher turtle and a 6-pack

Rob Dawg said...

I still wear a pair of wingtips I got at Filene's Basement in 1977.

LBD said...

Waiter, there is a snake in my turtle soup!

Lawyerliz said...

No turtle soup, these are protected tortoises!.

Lawyerliz said...

But the snakes arent.

Lawyerliz said...

Wake up east coast.

LBD said...

Good Morning from the Flatlands.

Still raining.

Rob Dawg said...

The day starts early on the left coast too. Trash day. Time to see if I can sneak a few armloads of green waste into the neighbor's bin.

More signs of a tired market. Sell in May and go away may be too late.

Lawyerliz said...

Bad dawg.

Rob Dawg said...

At least Mrs Dawg has got trained me not to go through their barrels looking for discarded treasures. It's tough. They toss great stuff.

Lawyerliz said...

Prolly no Rembrandt prints.

Unknown said...

Time to see if I can sneak a few armloads of green waste into the neighbor's bin.

now that's funny!! That would be a great sit-com episode...up scale California neighborhood..where everyone sneaks around pre-dawn putting trash in each others garbage cans... lol


g'mornin everyone

Rob Dawg said...

Perfectly good broom handles make great tomato stakes.

Rob Dawg said...

And you find something incriminating like broken sex toys or evidence of a heinous crime. While agonizing over the consequences it turns out they did the same to you and in a final scene both couples confront and it turns out there are perfectly innocent explanations all around. Cue laugh tracks and send me residuals.

LBD said...

Talking about my jet ski project at bowling I got two roller bunks and a full set of wobbly rollers for free. I never rummaged in the neighbors trash.

Mike, Great Idea for a British sitcom, a neighborhood of the not so rich showing of their new stuff they pilfered.

Lawyerliz said...

Oh, lord.

Lawyerliz said...

Good reasons not to watch tv.

Lawyerliz said...

In my gardens, front and back, I just let waste drop, and eventually when I plant something spread some dit over it. Remember we live on a sand dune. Anything organic is great.