Malls seem like the perfect mixed use type property. Stores on 1 floor, offices on 2nd floor, then 2-3 floors of housing. 1 of the big department stores could be a grocery store.
Those do exist in the US. I live in one.
Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
221–230 of 275 posts
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are 3 up (two adults, 1 child) in a 2 bed flat (apartment) with no garden and for the last year both my partner and I have been WFH full time (in my case I changed job to one that is 100% remote forever). I couldn't agree more, the transition for me was trivial - I'm a developer who plays games, I already had a nice chair, two 27" 4K displays and a fast desktop so for me my hardware/comfort improved - for my partn…
Oooh, garden office pod sounds intriguing. Do you have a good example of what sort of office pod you'd like to have?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuFcc2aNkp8 something like one of these.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#223Malls could be the best co-working offices. Ample daytime parking, baller food courts, medical facilities, hair dressers, dentists, cafes, movie theaters, entertainment, etc all under one roof.
I love how in the US, instead of building all these services and offices near each other and walkable from people's homes, we insist on ideas that force people to drive dozens of miles to get a walkable and convenient experience.
To be fair the US has the space to do what Asian and European countries couldn't.
Also America was basically virgin land. The invention of the car and highways shaped US cities when Tokyo and Paris were already centuries old.
Also are Americans really unhappy with suburbia?
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#224I imagine Sbarro, Orange Julius, Aunt Annies, etc, are probably also struggling.
Sbarro seems to have redone itself in the last few years so I’ll renounce my previous hatred but I have an unreasonable affection for Orange Julius, even if I have to sit in a DQ drive thru. It’s unpretentious and undemanding. The Jeffrey Archer novel (ok maybe I should say mindless instead of unpretentious) of drinks.
A car oasis that used to be along my commute has a Sbarro that serves breakfast, and it's pretty great. Scrambled eggs, sausage links, potatoes, and several different breakfast calzones. I often stopped there in the mornings.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably more like there’s semantics triggered fear in having home literally on top of a supermarket, as opposed to two being mentally separate.
I remember seeing a condo complex on top of a Ralph’s in San Diego: the Ralph’s was 24 hour and it always struck me as being incredibly convenient (the condos had an elevator direct into the store) - who needs a pantry at all when you have a 24hr grocery store literally five seconds away?
There is a supermarket in Boston over an interstate highway. The store is nothing special so I never thought much of it but now I'm really wondering what kind of political gymnastics had to occur to make that happen. At this point it's such a landmark that traffic reports refer to it as "the supermarket."
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#226Earlier quoted context omitted.
The simple solution is work from home because most people already have a home, and simple solutions win. The only reason you're mentioning malls is because they are there, but unless you're a mall-walker on the weekends, I'm pretty sure the average developer's definition of a good lunch break isn't "walking past the mall McDonald's 3 times before returning to your mall wework" or whatever.
> because most people already have a home Assuming that everyone has a comfortable and spacious home with a desk&chair area is, well, a bad assumption. A bunch of people I know are now working significantly more time from a couch, in a clearly non-ergonomic position. We will see and hear about the real damage 5 years from now.
I don't want to discard the fact that this is a real problem right now but in an efficient remote economy, employees are more likely to move to lower cost of living locations, possibly with better life quality and away from crazy overpriced urban centers that optimise for high salary in exchange for very little space. I think a world where people are more evenly distributed and have larger dwellings than a single room is more positive than keeping everyone clustered and have them working in malls.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#227Malls could be the best co-working offices. Ample daytime parking, baller food courts, medical facilities, hair dressers, dentists, cafes, movie theaters, entertainment, etc all under one roof.
Malls as coworking space would be literally the arcologies of dystopian cyberpunk. No windows, no natural light, never going outside in the real, natural world. Just one giant homogenised hermetically sealed world. It wouldn't be "best" for many people. Maybe "convenient" for bosses who don't like how much productivity they lose when a Meat Flavoured Productivity Unit has to go get a haircut or imbibe sustenance....
> No windows, no natural light, never going outside in the real, natural world.
I think it's a US thing. Many malls have significant sun-light, though not for the stores (I think this is done on purpose so that you are not distracted and focus on the goods). This could be re-purposed, however. Concrete walls get removed and replaced by glass.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#228Malls could be the best co-working offices. Ample daytime parking, baller food courts, medical facilities, hair dressers, dentists, cafes, movie theaters, entertainment, etc all under one roof.
Malls as coworking space would be literally the arcologies of dystopian cyberpunk. No windows, no natural light, never going outside in the real, natural world. Just one giant homogenised hermetically sealed world. It wouldn't be "best" for many people. Maybe "convenient" for bosses who don't like how much productivity they lose when a Meat Flavoured Productivity Unit has to go get a haircut or imbibe sustenance....
I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but have you ever been to the open air mall in Waikiki, Hawaii? It’s pretty great
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's what a normal town looks like pretty much anywhere outside of North America. I don't know town planners love exclusive zoning so much here.
100% agree. It drives me bonkers that even now with towns and cities expanding and new town centres forming, there's still a strict separation between residential and commercial use. Why not allow spaces for light commercial use in apartment buildings?
> Why not allow spaces for light commercial use in apartment buildings?
Noise.
Re: Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge
#230Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because most people already have a home Assuming that everyone has a comfortable and spacious home with a desk&chair area is, well, a bad assumption. A bunch of people I know are now working significantly more time from a couch, in a clearly non-ergonomic position. We will see and hear about the real damage 5 years from now.
We are 3 up (two adults, 1 child) in a 2 bed flat (apartment) with no garden and for the last year both my partner and I have been WFH full time (in my case I changed job to one that is 100% remote forever). I couldn't agree more, the transition for me was trivial - I'm a developer who plays games, I already had a nice chair, two 27" 4K displays and a fast desktop so for me my hardware/comfort improved - for my partn…
"around a near-teenager ... and long term not something I want..."
"long term" they won't be a near-teenager, or even teenager. ;). I do understand the quiet solitude for work issue though.