The Internet Is Eating America’s Abandoned Shopping Malls

[sgd]

we had ghost cities in china now there's ghost malls in america. Malls across America are leasing their vacant storefronts to data centers wow that's a first for me.

source: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-int...ping-malls


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The consumer is the hero of modernity, the very embodiment of our modern liberal values of self-direction and freedom of choice, and hence its central figure. We built this towering figure a fitting temple; more than that, we built thousands of them at the staggering rate of hundreds a year, during their heyday. We built shopping malls.

And since then, they've collapsed. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that malls across America are leasing their vacant storefronts to data centers. Internet shopping and brick-and-mortar stores have been positioned in public discourse as engaging in a vicious death match for some time now, giving the news a certain sense of poetic justice.

If malls are dying, then the internet is eating the decaying, hulking corpses of old consumption—the kind characterized by people physically maneuvering through space, together, as quickly or slowly as their feet will carry them—and sustaining itself inside them.

[opmi]

If u notice, the malls in orchard are also quite quiet. Especially the cosmetic dept.


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[Behappyalways]

which is why Jim Chanos said that if Alibaba is doing well then China retail mall going be in trouble.......

http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-5839.html


look at yiwu

《经济半小时》 20140918 义乌的新“生意”
http://jingji.cntv.cn/2014/09/18/VIDE141...6311.shtml

http://investideas.net/forum/viewtopic.p...&start=130

[dzwm87]

If u notice, the malls in orchard are also quite quiet. Especially the cosmetic dept.


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Sephora seems to be doing well and killing the cosmetic counters in department stores

[Big Toe]

What's interesting is that while online shopping is killing malls everywhere, the biggest online store of all, amazon, is bleeding badly as well. Losing money is not unique to Amazon, many online stores lose money as well as they compete against others with wafer thin margins. Especially so in china. Who wins? Alibaba.

Depending on what products are offered, consumers may get products on the cheap now but as time goes by and on-line and physical retailers do not make money, service standards and support will suffer in the end. Something has got to give. And with consumers demanding even lower prices and high levels of customer service, things may turn ugly.

[specuvestor]

^^ agree. There is actually value in having a physical store to see, touch, feel the product. Problem is people experience in store and buy on internet

Internet has unfair advantage of less working capital and overheads. IMHO days of incubating internet is over. They should now be taxed heavier than physical stores to make a level playing field else something gotta give. It will not be positive consumers long term when everything is just based on a simple price competitiveness, unadjusted for quality or service.

[sgd]

What's interesting is that while online shopping is killing malls everywhere, the biggest online store of all, amazon, is bleeding badly as well. Losing money is not unique to Amazon, many online stores lose money as well as they compete against others with wafer thin margins. Especially so in china. Who wins? Alibaba.

Depending on what products are offered, consumers may get products on the cheap now but as time goes by and on-line and physical retailers do not make money, service standards and support will suffer in the end. Something has got to give. And with consumers demanding even lower prices and high levels of customer service, things may turn ugly.

biggest winners will not be the online stores but online payment gateways like paypal and credit card companies regardless who opens what kind of online store they need these services to tie all together, they are like the doctors, the bar the general store owners that provided essential services during the california gold rush not the miners, miners only a handful made it big but the vast majority eventually all worked or bled themselves to death.

[brattzz]

For standardized items, it's cheap and easy to buy online, why pay +25% rentals to malls?
For luxury items, well, you want to be pampered at the specialized stores/cinemas/spas.. and don't mind paying more...

I support online stores for standardized items purchasing,
In fact, i feel that big brothers like NTUC and SHENGSHIONG/Giant/Challenger should give 10% to 20% off all online purchases!! self collection too!
SGH/NUH hospitals medical service providers too!

[Behappyalways]

Once the world's biggest mall is being torn down today
http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/30/news/wor...d=HP_River

[Temperament]

Yes! Many things going to change. Go and read what Jack Ma's ALIBABA is "stealing" from normal businesses in CHINA & later perhaps the World. A bit of apprehension how we are going to live.