Our Mall: So Sad

Discussion in 'Shopping & Sales' started by Frank Sanoica, Sep 5, 2016.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    Laughlin, Nevada's Outlet Mall. Only Mall within a 100-mile radius! Curiously, Bullhead City, directly across the Colorado River, has 8 times the population of Laughlin, but the bulk of tourists visit Laughlin, I guess, which has about 7,300 pop.

    How it looked originally:
    [​IMG]

    Pretty impressive! I'm guessing it is around 20 years old. Two stories high, built like a square doughnut, the entire lower level is inside parking, except for a small portion fronting Casino Drive which contains the Food Court, seen above housing a long-since gone Carousel. That portion of the lower level is the Food Court. Upper level, all the stores. Above, center of the upper level was a Disney Store, the only store having windows looking out. I suspect this is an artist's rendition, for it looks much different today. Still has a kind of 1930s-type Art-Deco look to the exterior.

    Below, I took this with my back to the Disney Store, long since defunct, looking across to the Mall proper, the Food Court being below.
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    The Disney Store, largest of all in the Mall. Our first winter stay was in 2010-'11. It was already gone then. Note the beautiful ceramic tile flooring, which is identical throughout the walkway part of the building.
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    View looking west along the north aisle. Immediate right, a closed store, across the way, another, with the cleaning lady working in blue, right in front. Note the large number of folks shopping, today, Labor Day. Actually, the guy was doing "laps", just like us!
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    The west aisle looking southward. To the right of the Directory are 4 stores closed, in a row.
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    Same aisle looking northward, the closed stores on the right. The Chocolate Factory seems to do OK! On the left, the Movie House, with 8 theaters showing, pretty big. It too seems to be fairly busy, judging by the number of cars parked downstairs. At least there were some folks shopping in this shot!
    [​IMG]

    Finally, the Food Court downstairs. On left, a closed burger place opened by the owner of a catering business across the river, he lasted about 6 months; before him, a "Mom & Pop breakfast/lunch fast food lasted about a year. In the distance on the right, the bright red sign above a new Italian fast-food take-out, which had been a McDonalds, believe it or not, to the left of which is a new specialty coffee place. They both opened within the past month. Yogi's BBQ is about a year old, behind which is a pizza place, which had been a Chinese Food before. So currently 2 food places are vacant.
    [​IMG]

    We do our walking in laps around the Mall, when outside weather prevents comfortable walking of the mile and a half long Riverwalk. The Mall is 0.3 mile around, so we strive for around 10 laps, usually. In 2010, I figured store vacancies were about 42% empty. Today's count, 23 closed, 31 open, same occupancy rate >5 years later. Amazing! And sad. Ownership of the Mall changed hands about 2 years ago. Also amazing.

    Thanks for your patience! Frank
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Malls are hitting on bad times, probably due to online shopping. Just as the malls put downtown shops out of business, the online stores are putting the malls out of business. I wonder what comes next.
     
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  3. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson
    For certain, higher rates of credit card fraud as well as identity theft, IMO.
     
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  4. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    Gee, @Frank Sanoica, your thread is like a travel blog that is complete with small details. I agree with @Ken Anderson that malls are having a stiff competition with online shops. Maybe not really stiff but the online shops are flexing its muscles already. I, for one, can be considered an online shopper since I buy from online stores once in a while although I think going to the mall still exceeds my online shopping in terms of frequency and amount of purchase.

    Our place used to be a sleepy village until the big space by the gate was transformed into a 3-story mall. And after several years, another mini mall opened on the other side of the village gate. So that means our entrance is now sandwiched by 2 mini malls. That definitely increased the value of real estate in our village.
     
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  5. Von Jones

    Von Jones Supreme Member
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    Here inner city shopping malls in the northwest section were closed due to mismanagement, shoplifting, juvenile disruption and who knows what else. It was very sad to see stores like Sears, JC Penney, and others disappear. Even the shopping centers (smaller than the mall) nearby is like a ghost town. Big retailers closed - Walmart, Kmart, Best Buy, Value City left the area although it could be because of road construction for accessibilty to the interstate in the area. I can't see online shopping as a culprit.
     
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  6. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    The closest mall to us is in Fort Smith, more than 50 miles away. Fort Smith at one time had 2 malls but one closed years ago. I think malls were beginning to decline long before online sales even existed. Walmart, I believe was the beginning of the end for malls.
     
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  7. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I never go the mall in Fresno so don't know what's going on there but the one in San Jose....Valley Fair is alive and well and so busy that you have to get there early to find a parking spot.

    Guess it depends where you live.

    This is the mall I go to with my daughter.

    https://www.westfield.com/valleyfair
     
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    Last edited: Sep 6, 2016
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