One of the more popular posts on my blog is Company Closings. It gets hit almost every day, usually coming from Google where searchers have typed in those two words. Funny, though, it hasn’t gotten many comments, just hits. Today I want to go in a different direction: thriving businesses.
I was reading in the newspapers that experts believe 2,000 to 3,000 malls will close across this country this year. May happen, but I find that hard to believe from what I have been seeing while out shopping. Every week I am in the Fig Garden Village center, mainly for Whole Foods, and the parking lots are full as are the stores that I may dart into. Yesterday I specifically went to Soma and had to wait in line for a cashier, and there were three of them. Afterwards I stopped at SaveMart to pick up a few groceries, and found the store bustling. Again, parking lot full.
Last week I went to River Park Shopping Center, looking for a new black coat, thinking there would be some great sales after the Christmas holiday. I could find no black coat, the cosmetic counter where I stopped was out of the eyeliner I wanted, and the clothes I did buy, were NOT on sale. The parking lots where full.
My girlfriends and I headed to Palo Alto to Stanford Mall, and found the parking lots full, people everywhere, and they were carrying shopping bags. We stopped in Macy’s and not one sales clerk spoke to us. They were all too busy with customers. Nordstrom’s was a little better; even though busy, I was able to get clerks to wait on me.
I will be in San Francisco at the end of January and will update my perceptions, but I have a feeling things are going well there, too. The Westfield Center is always bustling.
So, we can see the glass half full or half empty. We can see a bad economy or we can see an economy that is making some adjustments. To say that all business is in trouble is going too far. Retail will survive.
8 responses so far ↓
Jay // January 4, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
We went to Best Buy yesterday at about 6:30, on our way to dinner. Almost couldn’t get a parking spot and had a hard time getting the attention of a salesclerk. Of course, the local football team is in the playoffs with the first game today, so people may have been there getting The Big TV to watch…
teachj // January 4, 2009 at 7:00 pm |
You look at two businesses – 1) several newspapers 2) certain financial establishments. Both had plenty of customers (maybe not as many as before) but the customers were there. But because they were laden with debt, they became unprofitable. Malls could be in the same boat.
dkzody // January 4, 2009 at 9:29 pm |
You may be right about the debt. What I have read says that malls are coming up on some big loan payments early in this year. We have an acquaintance, though, who owned a Chinese restaurant and had to close after 35 years because the strip mall manager would not renegotiate her rent. The place sat empty for about 4 months but now as a large, lush floral store in it. Very high end arrangements.
Melissa B. // January 5, 2009 at 6:53 pm |
When my kids were home from college, we were talking about how the 20-somethings were raised in a real Consumer Culture. Remember…Abercrombie, American Eagle and their ilk “came of age” during the late ’90s-early 2000’s. Now some of these very stores, including Old Navy, are considering bankruptcy, or worse. A sad state of affairs, indeed. What are all these consumer-conscious kids to think?
Betty // January 6, 2009 at 1:59 pm |
I think that a lot of people are just going back to being more conservative. Hopefully, things will come to some sort of balance. I also find that the stores are busy. Plus, people still continued to drive even when the gas prices were off the charts. I agree that retail will survive.
heidi // January 7, 2009 at 2:08 am |
um, yea…i work at a mall and it is ridiculously busy every day.
just wanted to share a website you might like to use with your students- http://www.xtranormal.com
Kathy G // January 8, 2009 at 1:23 pm |
I’m finding that stores aren’t as busy as last month-don’t know if that’s attributable to the economy or post-holiday slowness.
My local Whole Foods has shortened its hours, opening one hour later and closing one hour earlier. Since Son #3 works there, that’s a real concern to me.
dkzody // January 8, 2009 at 4:47 pm |
I haven’t been to Whole Foods in about two weeks (shock), but now that school is going to start again, I must get some groceries. I will check their hours. They are in a very upscale shopping center which has had a full parking lot every time I’ve been in there.