What actually draws you to the mall, when you go there? A generation ago, you might have headed to your nearest mall to buy a refrigerator from Sears or a dress from JC Penney. Today, though, customers are less interested in hulking department stores, and more likely to visit their local mall to have dinner at a Cheesecake Factory or shop at an Apple Store, and skip the department store. Mall owners are noticing. [More]
malls
Abercrombie & Fitch’s Hollister Poised To Profit From Bankruptcy Of Fellow Teen Retailers
By 5.31.16
While teen retailers like Aéropostale and PacSun are going down in flames, their rivals are hunched on the sidelines, waiting to pick their bankrupted bones clean. There’s still money to be made catering to teenagers, after all, and analysts say Abercrombie & Fitch could be the one making it. [More]
Are These The Final, Doomed Days Of The American Mall?
By 5.13.16
Once upon a time, not terribly long ago, enclosed shopping malls were mammoth physical manifestations of the great American retail experience — just about everything you could want to buy all in the same sprawling building, anchored at various points by those glorious national department store chains. Then came the dramatic shift to big box stores, offering everything from TVs to hardware to clothing to groceries from one store, followed by the advent of online shopping, where all this shopping can be done in your undies and everything will be delivered to your door. One retail analyst says that recent underwhelming sales figures from Macy’s and other mall mainstays could indicate that many of these relics of the not so distant past are doomed. [More]
Here’s The List Of Aeropostale Stores That Are Closing
By 5.4.16
Whether it was market conditions or the behavior of their lenders that drove Aeropostale into bankruptcy, the teen-oriented clothing retailer has difficult decisions to make about which stores to keep and which to close. They’ve already decided on a preliminary closing list. [More]
Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds
By 2.5.16
Here are eight of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness. [More]
Finish Line Will Close 150 Stores Over The Next Four Years
By 1.7.16
Finish Line, a mall retailer that sells athletic clothes and sneakers, has had a rough year. Specifically, they’ve had supply chain and order management issues that began in the fall and lost them an estimated $32 million in sales. Today, the company announced that they’ll be closing as many as 150 stores over the next four years, almost a quarter of the chain. [More]
Fewer Middle-Class Consumers Means Fewer Midrange Mall Anchors
By 1.4.16
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, there was a deeply symbolic changeover at the King of Prussia mall in the suburbs of Philadelphia. What used to be a large Sears department store has assumed its final form: it’s part Dick’s Sporting Goods store and part Primark, a fast fashion retailer out of Ireland. That’s just one mall that demonstrates a trend: the institution of the anchor store is dying out in malls. [More]
Good News: Malls Where Rich People Shop Aren’t Dead
By 12.23.15
We’ve shared a lot of stories about dead and dying malls, and we wouldn’t blame you if you thought that the American mall is an endangered creature. Only it isn’t: high-end malls are doing just great. It’s malls in middle-class communities geared to middle-income customers that are suffering from high vacancy rates and failing tenants. [More]
Some Shopping Malls Forcing Stores To Open On Thanksgiving
By 11.25.15
Everyone knows that a handful of major retailers now choose to open on Thanksgiving, but most smaller businesses have remained closed on the holiday — whether it was out of a desire to enjoy the day, or simply because the extra expense of paying people to work on Thanksgiving wasn’t worth the few hours of additional sales. But now some shopping mall operators are spoiling the holiday for their smaller tenants by forcing them to open up on Thanksgiving. [More]
N.J. Mall Decides Not To Charge Admission To Santa’s Lap After All
By 11.17.15
When something is free one year and then comes with a fee the next, you better believe there are going to be customers who notice. As such, the management company at a New Jersey mall has backed off its experiment to charge visitors for the privilege of meeting (or even seeing) Santa Claus after parents complained that access to St. Nick’s lap should be free for everyone. [More]
Should Malls Charge Kids For The Privilege Of Visiting Santa Claus?
By 11.16.15
UPDATE: Later on Monday, the mall’s management group announced it had decided to make visiting Santa Claus free after all. [More]
Shoppers At Simon Malls Do Not Want Santa Claus Living In Some Sleek, Modern Version Of The North Pole
By 11.11.15
His belly will always resemble a bowl full of jelly, he will always drive a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and Santa Claus will always live at the North Pole. And according to disgruntled shoppers at Simon Malls, his polar home at the mall dang well better be in the traditional style we’re all used to, and not some futuristic, modern place with nary a poinsettia in sight. [More]
BaubleBar Latest E-Commerce Retailer To Open A Real-Life Store
By 6.25.15
If you’re worried that online shopping is killing off real-life commerce, don’t fret just yet. A popular online jewelry seller, BaubleBar, is bringing its brand to Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island. Yes, they’re moving from online to real life, opening a physical store where loyal customers and new ones can touch and try on their jewelry before buying. [More]
Suspect In Mall Pretzel Stand Robbery Hides Out In Same Mall’s Chili’s
By 6.12.15
Last night, something scary happened at the Macomb mall in Michigan: a man passed a pretzel stand employee a note demanding cash and stating that he had a gun. The employee handed over cash, and the robber left on foot. Police and mall security didn’t have to look very far, it turns out… they spotted the suspect at a standalone Chili’s restaurant that shares a parking lot with the mall. [More]
Hot Topic Buying Parent Company Of Online Retailer ThinkGeek For $122M
By 5.26.15
Mall staple Hot Topic is taking another chain under its umbrella for a $122 million price tag, announcing that it’s acquiring Geeknet, Inc., parent company of online retailers ThinkGeek and ThinkGeek Solutions, for $122 million. Commemorative T-shirts with cheeky sayings for everyone! [More]
Macy’s To Launch Quartet Of “Off-Price” (AKA Discount) Stores This Fall
By 5.5.15
Earlier this year, Macy’s said it was going to dip its toes into the waters of discount retailing by creating some sort of off-price offshoot of its department store chain. Today, the retailer confirmed some details about the first four locations for the store it has dubbed Macy’s Backstage. [More]
Sears Announces Final Two Stores They’ll Be Sharing With Primark
By 4.22.15
Last year, as part of their “taking on roommates” strategy of keeping their doors open, Sears announced that they were leasing parts of seven stores to Primark, a clothing retailer out of Ireland. Sears has finally named all seven of the stores where Primark will be moving in. All seven are in the Northeast. [More]
Outlet Malls No Longer Relegated To The Middle Of Nowhere
By 3.16.15
Outlet malls used to be outposts far from major cities where shoppers and tourists could trek for a shopping adventure. As outlets of department stores and brands alike have become more popular with price-conscious shoppers, outlet malls have grown in popularity, and also slowly crept closer to population centers. There’s even an outlet mall within the city of New Orleans now. [More]
