A CNBC headline announces that strip mall bankruptcies are up. Indeed, a video store that I walk by everyday has gone out of business, recently. All I can say is, It's about time. I'm not wishing harm on the individuals running the businesses of course. But it's a pleasant fantasy to imagine a country with less blight.
Surely I can't be the only one who has wondered how there could be so many little stores, selling useless things, all across America. They looked empty most of the time, but they stayed in business somehow. And they were always building another one! Video stores, bridal shops, vitamins, nail parlor, mini-gym, payday loans, etc.
As for video stores you'd think that most of them would have closed down years ago. I can't even remember the last time I rented a movie. Netflix rendered them obsolete.
Think of how inefficient a bricks-and-mortar store is. What is the customer actually paying for, when he buys his wizzmo? Online shopping is so much better, except for the shipping charges and the return hassles.
Another mystery is why dollar stores and big boxes haven't expanded their online stores at the expense of Amazon. Trucks make deliveries every day, so if your online stuff was on that truck, wouldn't it save everybody money? It's nice being able to return stuff to the store rather ship it back, with all the hassles and expenses. And with things like electronics, there's a 25% chance that it will have to be returned.
This fantasy only really works if the tacky little stores are torn down and their parking lots are plowed up and returned to agriculture or native grasses. Why do I believe the taxpayers will end up owning bankrupt commercial real estate?
Comments
I agree with Dixxe on the flight from downtowns to fringe town. It will take ordinary citizens, ones who have no "development" or real estate interests, to supplant those who do on planning and zoning commissions and town councils.
Montrose, Colorado, our old hometown, is a perfect example of your post.
Enough already... Time to head to a coffee shop (with free WiFi) at the nearby strip mall.
Lloyd, you hypocrite... are you going to "tan" as well?
Dixxe, I'm not sure you could legislate survival of downtowns as long as people go everywhere in their cars. It's so much easier to park on the edge of town.
Locally, they give nasty tickets to people who park more than 18"(?)from the curb even though the curbs are so high that you need to. Isn't that a great way to whip up business for downtown?!
Wandrin, Yea, strip malls are all about cars. Say, that was a pretty good rant. I think that's healthy for you.
Box Canyon, You're right, tanning salons are the quintessential strip mall business. Maybe I didn't think of them because they aren't that necessary in states that have more than seven weeks of summer.