Monday, December 31, 2012

The Death of the American Shopping Mall - Jobs & Economy - The Atlantic Cities

The Death of the American Shopping Mall - Jobs & Economy - The Atlantic Cities:
"I believe we’re seeing clear signs that the e-commerce revolution is seriously impacting commercial real estate. Online retailers are relentlessly gaining share in many retail categories, and offline players are fighting for progressively smaller pieces of the retail pie. A number of physical retailers have already succumbed to online competition including Circuit City, Borders, CompUSA, Tower Records and Blockbuster, and many others are showing signs of serious economic distress. These mall and shopping center stalwarts are closing stores by the thousands, and there are few large physical chains opening stores to take their place. Yet the quantity of commercial real estate targeting retail continues to grow, albeit slowly. Rapidly declining demand for real estate amid growing supply is a recipe for financial disaster."
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Borders wiped out independent book stores, then got wiped out by Amazon. Shopping malls wiped out Main Street and now the malls are in the crosshairs of e-commerce.

1 comment:

Fred Pilot said...

Brick and mortar retailers are also being "showroomed" where customers view products and then shop for them online. It's causing distress at yet another brick and mortar retailer:

http://news.yahoo.com/best-buy-loses-two-board-directors-023229744--sector.html