The American "Retail Apocalypse" Is Official

[Y_Participant 4591]

The American “Retail Apocalypse” Is Official

From Tyler Durden http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-23/retail-apocalypse-officially-descending-upon-america

Consumerism has long been a defining element of American society, but retail giants are now shutting down thousands of their locations amid a long-anticipated “retail apocalypse.”

BI reports that over the next couple months, more than 3,500 stores are expected to close:

Department stores like JCPenney, Macy’s, Sears, and Kmart are among the companies shutting down stores, along with middle-of-the-mall chains like Crocs, BCBG, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Guess.

Some stores, like Bebe and The Limited, are closing all of their locations to focus more on online sales. Other larger chains, like JC Penney, are “aggressively paring down their store counts to unload unprofitable locations and try to staunch losses,” Business Insider notes. Sears and K-Mart are following a similar trajectory moving forward.

Sears is shutting down 150 Sears and Kmart locations, about 10% of their shops. JCPenney is shutting down 138 stores, about 14% of their total locations.

These closures are the consequence of several different factors. First, the United States has more shopping mall square footage per person than other parts of the world. In America, retailers reserve 23.5 square feet per person; in Canada and Australia, the countries with the second- and third-most space have 16.4 and 11.1, respectively.

Another reason retail brick and mortars are failing is the growth of e-commerce. Between 2010 and 2013, visits to shopping malls declined 50%, according to data from real estate research firm Cushman and Wakefield. Meanwhile, online sales from huge online outposts, like Amazon, have exploded.

The list of failures is getting longer by the day. Macy’s? Cooked – down 42% over the past six months. Nordstrom? Down 20% over the same timeframe. Dick’s Sporting Goods? Awful earnings sent this athletic retailer lower more than 10% yesterday alone. There’s absolutely no way to sugarcoat it—the retail sector is crashing.

Though Americans increasingly prefer to shop online, their preferences are also changing. Shoppers are choosing to spend their money on “restaurants, travel, and technology than ever before, while spending less on apparel and accessories,” Business Insider reports.

Further, as longtime retail analyst Howard Davidowitz observed in 2014, “What’s going on is the customers don’t have the f~~~ing money. That’s it. This isn’t rocket science.”

As prosperity declines, shopping habits shift, and major retailers like Macy’s, Sears, and JCPenney close their doors, their decisions are likely to have ripple effects on smaller stores in shopping malls. Business Insider explains that in addition to dwindling attendance and income for mall owners, major department store closures can trigger “‘co-tenancy clauses’ that allow the other mall tenants to terminate their leases or renegotiate the terms, typically with a period of lower rents, until another retailer moves into the anchor space.”

As fewer retail giants seek retail space, many malls are facing dire fates, and many expect low-performing malls to be hit hardest by the changing scope of retail, noting roughly 30% of malls will face increased risk of shutting down.’

Shopping malls first became popular in the economically fruitful era of the 1950s and 60s. Inspired by major department stores of the 19th century — like Sears and Macy’s, which are now struggling — 20th-century malls grew rapidly, in part, because of government subsidies provided in the form of tax breaks.

Smithsonian Magazine has explained that over the decades, real estate developers overshot their expectations, constructing increasing numbers of malls despite a lack of population growth. By 1999, the downward trend we see intensifying today had already begun

“Shopping centers that hadn’t been renovated in years began to show signs of wear and tear, and the middle-aged, middle-class shoppers that once flooded their shops began to disappear, turning the once sterile suburban shopping centers into perceived havens for crime. Increasingly rundown and redundant, malls started turning into ghost towns—first losing shoppers and then losing stores

At $12.7 billion, U.S. department store revenue is $7.2 billion lower than it was in 2001, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Expect these trends to continue

[BoarParticipant]

..and good riddance. I know consumer spending is critical to the national economy, but I think a little pain should help folks focus on their needs and not their wants.

Untamed wrote: Quit complaining and Go Your Own Way in whatever manner suits you best.

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

The only mall within a hundred miles is half fI’ll at best. Those stores used to be high end womens clothing stores.

More importantly, what will happen to the jobs?

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[It’sallbsParticipant]

Yes I hate shopping centres.

http://www.leavemeansleave.eu

[MGTOW KnightParticipant 7477]

I think this is good tbh. American consumerism has shifted to e-commerce due to its convenience and reliability. I personally have found that anything I find in a department store, I can find online with better options and at a far better price. Just with this paradigm shift, physical brick and mortar stores need to adapt to the changes in spending behavior, or they will die. Simple as that. I also don’t buy new clothes. If I do have dispensable income, I spend it on tech, not on apparel. My parents will get me clothes for Christmas lol.

Fuck bitches... literally and metaphorically

[AutoliteParticipant]

Like the article says, “It ain’t rocket science”. I never buy new unless it’s the only option. Amazon sales might be taking a huge bite out of retail sales but I don’t see the postal service adjusting accordingly. Wait times for delivery of on-line purchases seems to just keep getting longer and longer…

[MGTOW KnightParticipant 7477]

Autolite wrote:

Wait times for delivery of on-line purchases seems to just keep getting longer and longer…

I agree. However, you have the option to pay for faster shipping i.e. Amazon Prime. E-commerce overall has more options, and this is what is contributing to the overall demise of the brick and mortar retail store.

Fuck bitches... literally and metaphorically

[MACHOParticipant]

For the last 5 years I have been purchasing 90% of what I need online..
from socks and underwear to sleeping bags and tents. I pretty much go shopping for food only because I love fresh fruits and vegetables.

You must own a better Crystal ball than I

[Anonymous 42]

It’s Funny the things that come to mind here!

[KevinStylesParticipant 2580]

Really not surprising. The middle class has been decimated and those were the people who spent the highest percentage of their earnings on ‘stuff’. Online shopping has been killing brick and mortar for at least a decade and the youth of today are more about virtual goods or renting things and services not buying physical goods. The writing is on the wall, has been for a while but no one really wanted to acknowledge it. The physical ownership of goods is a think of the past like happy marriages, stable jobs, stable happy marriages etc.

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22521]

This is not a “retail apocalypse”. This is a corporate retail collapse due to mismanagement, poor supply side quality at to expensive a price, and not understanding the customer base.

Those controlling these companies were waiting to pull the plug until someone they could blame was in office.

This is another move by the globalists to destroy American jobs. The globalists will seek to destroy ten american jobs for every american job President Trump helps to create.

[MGTOW KnightParticipant 7477]

Faust For Science wrote:

This is a corporate retail collapse due to mismanagement, poor supply side quality at to expensive a price, and not understanding the customer base.

Exactly, the don’t have the supply to meet the demand, and they can’t compete with the e-commerce pricing. Not to mention the overall convenience is hard to match.

Fuck bitches... literally and metaphorically

[Faust For ScienceParticipant 22521]

MGTOW Knight wrote:

Exactly, the don’t have the supply to meet the demand, and they can’t compete with the e-commerce pricing. Not to mention the overall convenience is hard to match.

It should be noted that in the town I live in. Local stores are doing fine because the owners and workers of those shops make sure the customer service is worth returning for.

Sure, you can order something online. But, if something breaks and the return policy does not work. You need someone to take the product to be locally fixed. In this economy people cannot afford to replace what they have with something new. Especially, when such people can pay a fraction of the cost just to repair their items.

[MGTOW KnightParticipant 7477]

Faust For Science wrote:

It should be noted that in the town I live in. Local stores are doing fine because the owners and workers of those shops make sure the customer service is worth returning for.

This is something I have noticed as well. People will support local businesses if the their customer service is great. As a matter of fact, my mother complained about Macy’s when she was Christmas shopping last year. Apparently the customer service was horrendous,and they have these very cheesy ways of making people overpay for analogous products. They will offer the product to similar value of an analogous online product only if you have their 20% discount coupons, and my mom found this to be quite frustrating. My mom went so far to say that she will never shop at Macy’s again. Low and behold they are folding. I guess a culmination of things are bringing about the downfall of the retailers. I won’t weep for them. XD

Fuck bitches... literally and metaphorically

[ResidentEvil7Participant 9547]

I think it’s an outrage! People are losing their jobs, their businesses for lazy people to have the convenience of online shopping at home. I personally hate it and I think it’s very selfish! The only online shopping I do is for stuff I can’t buy in stores. Besides when you online shop, you don’t always know what you’re getting. this online shopping s~~~ is putting people out of work, including myself who is looking for retail jobs. If I can’t get a job because of someone’s laziness for online shopping, I will blame them personally. You MGTOW guy mainly don’t like shopping and can careless, but that’s selfish also! People need to work and to some people retail is all they know and your laziness is putting them out of work. I don’t entirely blame the business for poor customer service; I blame the employee first.

Sorry to say, but all you online shoppers are contributing the problem; not the stores!

https://themanszone.webs.com/

[BeerParticipant 11832]

MGTOW Knight wrote:

I personally have found that anything I find in a department store, I can find online with better options and at a far better price.

My buddy calls Bestbuy the Amazon show room. Whenever he wants to buy some new gadget or something, he’ll go to Bestbuy and check out all the floor models to see what he likes, then go order it online and save some money lol.

Faust For Science wrote:

Sure, you can order something online. But, if something breaks and the return policy does not work. You need someone to take the product to be locally fixed.

I just bought a couch recently and bought it local for this reason. Locally they’ll come bring it right into my house, dropped off at a date and time I pick so I can make sure I’m home to receive it, have it all assembled if any required, put it right where I want it, and take my old s~~~ away. If there are any problems with it they’ll make it right with very little effort on my part.

Had I ordered it off the web I know I could have saved about 100 bucks, but it would have got dropped off down at the office and I’d have to lug it across the parking lot, across the building, up a flight of stairs, and probably had some assembly to do. If it came with some sort of defect it would probably take a considerable amount more time to make right dealing with such a large heavy object over long distances, and the delivery guy who just wants to drop s~~~ off in the easiest possible location and be on his way, and I’d still have to deal with getting rid of old stuff on my own.

Sometimes buying local has it perks but sometimes it really doesn’t make much sense. If I need something right now I’ll go to the store…but a lot of things lately I find myself just ordering online…you have 1000x the options to browse almost always at a cheaper than brick and mortar price.

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