Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
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Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#2I probably shouldn't admit to this but I went to the Mall yesterday, I went to Hot Topic. I think the people who worked there were glad to just see people at all so customer service was really great.
Also - Hot Topic is a great place to go for fun masks.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#3I probably shouldn't admit to this but I went to the Mall yesterday, I went to Hot Topic. I think the people who worked there were glad to just see people at all so customer service was really great. Also - Hot Topic is a great place to go for fun masks.
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Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#4I have trouble buying clothes online. It's hard to determine fit, shipping things back is a hassle beyond comprehension, and it's impossible to try things on (which is fun).
Malls need to improve along a number of dimensions. Better dining, easier transportation or integration into live / work / play mixed use, and addition of grocery stores would make them better than Amazon.
Add a Target to any mall and it's twice as good. Add good food or a movie theater, and that's my weekend shopping destination.
Build instant check out. That'd be a game changer. One of the worst parts of shopping is the checkout process.
Malls need to improve. They can win, but they have to get better. Lean into the things Amazon can never do. Physical, social, evening or weekend as a destination you plan your time around.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#5Malls need to be remade. I like the few I've gone to that are mostly outside or have some open airways and greenery, art, music, some sort of novelty event or thing to check out. I don't really miss giant generic malls at all. They're used more as a free babysitter and I hate visiting them.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#6I highly recommend Sal’s YouTube channel. He goes and explores malls that are on their deathbed.
It’s truly surreal to see places that once had so much life now almost completely empty and falling out of repair.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#7Good riddance!
I’ve been hearing about a come back as stores make “instagrammable” experiences, sounds fun but I don’t trust real estate agents
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#8I have trouble buying clothes online. It's hard to determine fit, shipping things back is a hassle beyond comprehension, and it's impossible to try things on (which is fun). Malls need to improve along a number of dimensions. Better dining, easier transportation or integration into live / work / play mixed use, and addition of grocery stores would make them better than Amazon. Add a Target to any mall and it's twice…
> One of the worst parts of shopping is the checkout process.
It's always been parking for me.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#9I imagine Sbarro, Orange Julius, Aunt Annies, etc, are probably also struggling.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#10I have trouble buying clothes online. It's hard to determine fit, shipping things back is a hassle beyond comprehension, and it's impossible to try things on (which is fun). Malls need to improve along a number of dimensions. Better dining, easier transportation or integration into live / work / play mixed use, and addition of grocery stores would make them better than Amazon. Add a Target to any mall and it's twice…
> Malls need to improve along a number of dimensions. Better dining, easier transportation or integration into live / work / play mixed use, and addition of grocery stores would make them better than Amazon.
That's because no one implemented the original vision of the mall, at least in the US.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_eye/2015/05/07/victor_gruen_t...
"He imagined designing an environment full of greenery and shops: an indoor plaza that could be an island of connection in the middle of the sprawl, one that would get people out of their cars in order to walk and stroll within them. He saw his structure as an architectural panacea—it would remedy environmental, commercial, and sociological problems with the creation of a single building. Gruen presented his a solution for America: the shopping mall.
Gruen’s full vision for the mall was more than just shops. He imagined them as mixed-use facilities, with apartments, offices, medical centers, child care facilities, libraries, and (since it was the 1950s) bomb shelters. He wrote theoretical sketches of shopping malls long before he ever built one, but for a long time, none of his ideas came to fruition. Then in 1952, the owner of Dayton Company commissioned him to build the very first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping center. It would be in Edina, Minnesota."
Of course, if everything was enclosed instead of open air as envisioned, it would have been a pandemic nightmare