I’m sure there are exceptions. Ross Park Mall is thriving in Pittsburgh. That’s a pretty high-end place, though. The malls out near me seem to be trending to smaller, higher-end footprints.
OT & SIAP: Macy's to close stores in State College and Harrisburg.*
- Thread starter Art
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Apparently retail space in most malls is very expensive, so if business is not brisk, they close, can't afford the rent and can't pay employees.
My wife was in one of the 2 large Macys stores in Dayton, OH area the other day and she said there were only a few employees on each floor and very few customers. Amazon and on-line shopping are taking their customers. I am not a shopper, but for me, I prefer the store vs on-line shopping. I like to see, touch, try on whatever I am purchasing.
I don't fully buy (pun intended) the "Amazon is killing <insert clothing store here>" mantra.
It's definitely a sizeable factor. Yet, stores like TJ Maxx/Marshalls are doing very well. IMO, while online sales definitely hurt stores like Macys/JCP/Kohls/etc., the days of paying $50+ for slacks, jeans, and shirts are also gone, at least for younger people. More affluent types shop at higher-end stores, but for the average 20-40s-aged person, Macys/JCP/Kohls/etc. aren't "things" anymore.
part of that is a lot of people driving down from great Philly area and South Jersey for tax free shopping. Plus they put a massive Cabella's in the parking, have a huge movie theatre complex, and have added a lot of restaurants. King of Prussia mall is doing OK also which has all the same higher end restaraunts, movie theatre, etc....
I think the 'mega-malls' that have a large enough population area have adapted and put in more restaurants and other anchor type store, movies, etc....such that they survive as a destination location. It is the smaller malls that are dying and closing. Essentially only can have one mall in a certain radius that wills survive and all the rest will be gone in the next decade.
I don't believe I wrote "killing". Agree about T.J. Maxx & Marshalls. My wife shops those two. She also checks out Thrift Stores. She often finds Talbotts (ladies store) clothes on the racks, new, with Talbotts tags, greatly reduced prices.
I was commenting on the general situation rather than your specific post (re: killing retail).
Retail margins aren’t huge. A few percent drop in sales at a location can swing them from black to red. Amazon and online retailers have easily eaten that amount.
The other thing is that physical retail has a major inventory conundrum, which online places don’t face as much. All their inventory is at one warehouse vs guessing where to stock what. Nordstrom is one retailer that’s been kind enough to search stock across stores and have items shipped to customers.
Malls and overpriced clothing were never my thing. I prefer to get my clothing at the Burlingtons or kohls of the world. I would never spend $100 on a pair of jeans or a pair of sneakers. Similarly I have never purchased the outrageously priced clothing at the PSU Bookstore! I remember back in the day that the Nittany Mall was a bit of a dump then and a pain to get their on the bus.
Reading this thread got me thinking back on where I grew up and what State College looked like when I moved here about 18 years ago. I remember all the hoopla around the opening of the Montgomery Mall in Montgomeryville PA in the mid 70s, hung out there a lot as a teenager late 70s and thru the 80s. It killed business in all the local downtown main streets around there Lansdale, Doylestown, Hatboro, Souderton(granted I was young but remember my mom and dad taking me to these main streets to do some shopping before the malls). (Heck I remember going to the King of Prussia plaza when it was just the round Wanamakers building and a small strip of 5-10 stores outside it). Anyway, the malls were the place to hang out (Montgomeryville and Willow Grove were our hangouts in the 80s until we were old enough to hit the bars) and go shopping for nearly everything(Sears, JCPenny, Macy's, Wanamakers, Record Stores, etc). When I moved to SC in the early 2000s the Nittany Mall still had a lot of stores however, it seemed to be when the Targets, Kohls, TJ Maxx, Dicks, Trader Joe's plaza with GAP and Old Navy started popping up that the Mall started going down hill. I can't recall if the Walmarts were there already here or not but the Walmart shopping center across the street from the Nittany Mall with the Ross and Bed Bath and Beyond certainly hurt it as well. Outside of State College, income levels are low and most folks just go right to Wally World to get everything on the cheap instead of the mall. Also, since living here, I have learned, some of the State College contingent don't like driving more then 5-10 minutes to get somewhere and the mall is on the outside of town and they wouldn't been seen there anyway. Sounds stupid but there is a large contingent that act that way and opt for the stores in town or on North Atherton.
Just my observation but I am not one to shop much, I still wear clothes I bought 20 years ago!
Just my observation but I am not one to shop much, I still wear clothes I bought 20 years ago!
Reading this thread got me thinking back on where I grew up and what State College looked like when I moved here about 18 years ago. I remember all the hoopla around the opening of the Montgomery Mall in Montgomeryville PA in the mid 70s, hung out there a lot as a teenager late 70s and thru the 80s. It killed business in all the local downtown main streets around there Lansdale, Doylestown, Hatboro, Souderton(granted I was young but remember my mom and dad taking me to these main streets to do some shopping before the malls). (Heck I remember going to the King of Prussia plaza when it was just the round Wanamakers building and a small strip of 5-10 stores outside it). Anyway, the malls were the place to hang out (Montgomeryville and Willow Grove were our hangouts in the 80s until we were old enough to hit the bars) and go shopping for nearly everything(Sears, JCPenny, Macy's, Wanamakers, Record Stores, etc). When I moved to SC in the early 2000s the Nittany Mall still had a lot of stores however, it seemed to be when the Targets, Kohls, TJ Maxx, Dicks, Trader Joe's plaza with GAP and Old Navy started popping up that the Mall started going down hill. I can't recall if the Walmarts were there already here or not but the Walmart shopping center across the street from the Nittany Mall with the Ross and Bed Bath and Beyond certainly hurt it as well. Outside of State College, income levels are low and most folks just go right to Wally World to get everything on the cheap instead of the mall. Also, since living here, I have learned, some of the State College contingent don't like driving more then 5-10 minutes to get somewhere and the mall is on the outside of town and they wouldn't been seen there anyway. Sounds stupid but there is a large contingent that act that way and opt for the stores in town or on North Atherton.
Just my observation but I am not one to shop much, I still wear clothes I bought 20 years ago!
My parents live in the Montgomeryville, PA area. They've been there since 1990. There has been high store turnover over the past 30 years. I'm not sure Wegmans has even helped that mall.
A few memories of Montgomeryville Mall from the '90s:
* The long spiral ramp in the center of the mall. It's long gone.
* Two Sam Goody stores, one at each end of the mall.
* Tweeter Audio/Video with nice hi-fi and home-theater equipment.
That mall has sucked for a long time.
All things considered, Doylestown is still happening.
Granted I haven't been to the Montgomery mall in about 20-25 years and remember everything you listed especially the spiral ramp(the rent a cops used to yell at us for running up and down it). I have some records still with the Sam Goody price tag on them! I worked at Dunderbaks(the German deli that sold the fancy German beers) for a short period of time.
Doylestown was a dump until the late 90s when the revitalization started happening(lived there during that time). I am hearing Lansdale has been starting to come back as well with some upscale restaurants and stores moving in.
Boscov's in Altoona is a really nice store. I used to think Boscov's would do well in State College and wondered why they never opened one there. I grew up shopping at Boscov's but I have to admit, lately it seems like the quality of some of their merchandise is slipping.
No disagreement here. The Altoona store has a ton of "exclusive brands" that are shit. I went looking for some golf polo shirts--they had a ton for under $10, but the fit and quality were so bad that I ended up buying Izod. Their prices for Izod were still pretty good, but I get what you're saying.
There was a grocery store on the end past Value City for a long time too, I think it was Penn Traffic then BiLo maybe. When Kauffman's came they demolished both the Value City and BiLo spaces and built new. IIRC they also got the zoning for the mall changed to be allowed to build a second story but then chose not too - probably happy they didn't these days.
This is the sign of a true local, whether born and raised or fully assimilated. I'll drive "all the way" to the other end of town but will avoid doing so if I can. I don't dislike driving, I just want it to be worth doing. That said, I've been thinking about going out to Spruce Creek for dinner one night so that's a bit more than 10 minutes, but not much.
They had a Dunderbak's at the Montgomery Mall?!? We go to the one in the Lehigh Valley mall every Christmas eve for lunch.
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