The "Retail Apocalypse" Is Officially Descending Upon America

[AntipathyParticipant 4901]

After reading the article, i find it funny that several of the stores closing up locations, are the ones that charge a fortune for products. I used to buy all my stuff at macy’s but their prices now, are outlandish. The same polo’s that were 40 bucks a few years ago are now 70. Total rip off.

[Anonymous 11]

We’re losing a number of long established restaurants down my way. I made chicken fingers and a very nice salad last night for $2.75. I paid $15 out the door for some at a local restaurant a few months ago.

As others have mentioned, there is no selection at brick and mortar places. There used to be. Why should I drive all across town trying to find something when ebay and Amazon can deliver whatever I want. You just can’t buy a dangerous 1 watt bug cooking blue laser from Best Buy.

We are simply being squeezed from all sides.

[channel-zParticipant 228]

In my suburb, a shopping mall built in the ’70s closed around 2005 (before I moved here). A demolition crew quickly knocked it down. 12 years later, that site is still empty, just weeds and dirt. The city can’t get anyone to develop it. Only one shopping mall in my metropolitan area remains.

Retailers feel pressure on numerous fronts.

1. Men hate shopping. As more men take back their lives, they will only buy what they need, and do it in the most efficient manner. Gone are the days when I was a kid, when my mom would drive to three different grocery stores to shop.

2. As the article stated, “People don’t have the f~~~ing money.”

3. Rent. When businesses close around here, they often say it’s not for lack of customers, but the cost of doing business. We live in what I like to call a “skim” economy, where money is made by passing the cost of business through as many departments (public or private) as possible, each one adding its own fee.

4. Greed. The same CEO destroyed both Sears and Kmart. Some CEOs engage in legal robbery, taking a job to destroy it, liquidating the assets for personal gain, and moving on to the next company. They are viruses, programmed to take, never to produce.

[Sky-OParticipant 18951]

Referring to physical stores closing as a retail apocalypse is not accurate when you consider the amount of FedEx and UPS trucks on the road everyday, delivering the same products to residences that those customers use to go to stores to purchase.

When horses and buggies were in decline (as automobiles replaced them), it was not considered to be a transportation apocalypse. People were still going places, but used a different method.

[The man in the mountainParticipant 4102]

News from 2014… STILL RELEVANT!.

[Anonymous 1]

channel-z wrote:

Greed. The same CEO destroyed both Sears and Kmart. Some CEOs engage in legal robbery, taking a job to destroy it, liquidating the assets for personal gain, and moving on to the next company. They are viruses, programmed to take, never to produce.

Thats a great point! There is way too much of this kind of thinking coming out of the business schools of America. They are so quick to rip a company to shreds for their own bonus check. They are too short sighted to realize it may take 50-100 years to build a great company. Only took the CEO 1 year to liquidate it for the assets, but thats what these guys think makes a good business man. The economists have the same mentality. There is no way in hell that 2008 bail out should have happened, but our economists actually recommended it. LOL.

[~BSParticipant 3266]

I think it’s definitely on the decline despite the “healthy” economy.

It will take another economic recession along with the continued shrinking of the middle class and rejection of coupling by men for the retail industry to crash.

make no mistake about it, I personally, am not cheering its demise. The retail industry represents a lot of s~~~ty low paying jobs. Once the middle class dies out as a result of continued outsourced labor, the lower class will follow. Online shops like amazon will do to the big box retailers what the big box retailers did to the small mom and pops shops. So everyone will end up living like paupers except for the 1% of course.

"He didn't marry until now, so he won't ever do it. Think about it, why would a man like him ever marry? It's too late to catch him. " ~some cunt

[OgreParticipant 5863]

The more abandoned malls the better. They’re great obstacle courses.

Did someone say apocalypse? Just watch out for what’s in the shadows.

Consumerism takes, entrepreneurs create from the decayed waste.

I failed to realize in my youth that I was the prize. I was going to work. I was going to earn. Little did I realize that due to feminism, that no longer meant I had to share. Road soon, Desert after.

[narwhalParticipant]

I’ve always thought that there was somewhat of a bubble with retail, due to the rise in divorce rate. Instead of families living in one home, sharing resources, they are spread out to two or more homes. By family, I mean mom, dad, kids. Where you once had 1 electric bill, water bill, sets of furniture, and other ‘necessity’ items, you now have 2 or more.

So is it surprising that less money is spent on relative non-essentials? I don’t think so.

You also have to figure that there is a rise in utility/subscription costs. A household used to have the electric, water, and phone bill. Now it has those, plus a higher phone bill, kid’s phone bill, cable, internet, gaming system, rising health care, Netflix, alarm system….so much less room for clothes.

And not that I pay that much attention to the fashion world, music and movie industries, but does it seem like they’ve started to run out of innovation? Your old clothes don’t look so out of date anymore. The movies and music seem to repeat themselves. Maybe I’m just old.

I don’t know. It seems to me that this really doesn’t need to be a problem. Capitalism will fix itself, if the government gets out of the way. If people have jobs and money to spend, they’ll spend it. Maybe not in the traditional way, but they’ll spend it somewhere.

Ok. Then do it.

[RennieParticipant]

Autolite wrote:

Sears Canada is a total lost cause. Their product support is non-existent. Their phone reps can’t even speak English and when I talk to someone for help face-to-face all I ever hear is “Oh, that’s only available in the States”…

Not to mention the fact that the stores look dated and worn out. The one near me recently put up new signs, but to me, that’s just glitter on a pile of dog turd.

Anonymous wrote:

You just can’t buy a dangerous 1 watt bug cooking blue laser from Best Buy.

Have one of those too. Got from Ebay. Totally illegal, but very entertaining. Way better than a boring red laser pointer.

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