This list confirms what I've been thinking (and saying) for years - the day of the big department-store-anchored-mega mall is coming to an end.

Those are mainly mall shops.

I hate mall shopping, and when I go to a mall for anything, I've noticed that I'm not the only one. Around here the mall customers seem to be teens and twenty-something girls. Men are nowhere to be seen, and women of a certain age are missing as well.

The mega-mall trend is over. Maybe we'll go back to boutique shopping in open-air shopping villages. There are also an increasing number of "outlet malls". I wonder how they're doing.

Isn't Boscov's in bankruptcy too?

Mervyn's is going under, too. I used to get great clothes for my grandson there, their own label of kids' clothes was sturdy and fit well, and well priced.

Sushipup: I knew Mervyn's was in trouble when Dayton Hudson (Target) sold them.

Gina, I have been thinking the same thing. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the "big box" stores fare over the next couple of years.

I like the idea of independently-owned, and boutique type stores. Unfortunately the muckety-mucks in the town I live in has catered to all the mega stores, and nearly all of our "mom & pops" have gone by the wayside because of it.

An interesting turn of events to say the least....

Linda

During inclement weather malls are great and don't forget about the 'mall walkers'.....but I have an idea.

Maybe if the mall, chain type stores disappeared, boutique stores would go into the malls again.

Gina, if you lived where there is winter, you would not like driving from strip center to strip center on snow covered, sloppy roads, let alone dash outside from store to store in a snowstorm. At least I don't enjoy it.

Nancy

The outlet mall about 3 miles form my house is almost empty. Most of the stores in it have closed over the last 2 or 3 years. It's doing worse than the malls.

We visited outlet mall north of LA last Monday. While business wasn't booming, it did have a fair amount of cars,which surprised us.
Mervyn's? I think they've been trouble since before Target (previously Dayton-Hudson) got rid of them. If I'm not mistaken they were slow to pay their bills back in the early 90's.

I forgot about that factor Nancy. But do you go to malls frequently?

If I think about where I like to go shopping -- well, probably Costco is where I spend the most money. I do like outlet malls - I went to some huge ones and did a lot of damage in Texas, Hawaii and Las Vegas.

I suspect the list is going to get even longer in the new year; specially if people are not spending much for the holidays. Restructuring and scaling down is inevitable for those big chains.

I can't see a mom and pop shop paying big rent in a nice mall and being able to turn a profit, that's the name of the game and it ain't happening.

This is sad.

In a few weeks we will be going on our annual "Off-site Christmas Shopping" weekend. I guess I better check the status of the stores.

Haven't seen any of that around here....yet but I'm sure it will come.

Nancy, I hear you! If I'm shopping in January it's in a mall!

Lpink, Al Boscov is attempting to buy back Boscov's. I read this morning he wants to have it back by Black Friday.

Tracey

Add Linens N Things to the list. I hardly ever go to any malls anymore. Haven't in years. If I do want to go to a store that is only in malls, which happens rarely, I go to that store and then leave.

We're going to do our annual jaunt to San Marcos (3 hr drive) Outlet Mall on Black Friday. It's two huge outlet malls next to each other. DH likes to shop and it's a fun day for the both of us. Hoping to find some great bargains this year.

I can well imagine that this downward spiral is going to continue. It has always amazed me how many locations one store can have --- they seem to be competing with themselves. I've seen it happen to so many businesses, they open too many locations and the next thing you know they are all closed. You'd think they'd learn from others' past mistakes.

I wonder if part of the problem is the aging population that simply cannot tolerate malls. It's too much walking while carrying bags and too many stores aimed at the young.

I go to the King of Prussia mall all the time, but I park near an entrance to the store where I'm going and just stick to that store for the most part. My hips and knees are aching if I spend too much time walking on those hard mall floors.

I long for the days of free-standing department stores, where you could park just outside and walk in.

Honestly, this economic situation has me scared to death.

I'm surprised about Boscov's. That started as a local store in Reading.
I've been wondering for a long time how all the new retail stores can possibly stay in business. New stores and restaurants kept popping up all around here, and there wasn't the economic growth to explain or sustain it. It was a house of cards built on credit. Booms and bubbles are always like that; businesses expand beyond caution because of the psychology of the boom. Then things have to change, so that resources can be allocated in better ways.

For those of you than don't do malls where do you shop?

We only have malls, big box stores/outlets or the small boutiques type shops downtown.

I hate the big box stores (except Costco) and the downtown shops are quite pricey so I usually end up at the mall which has two very large department stores and then the usual suspects of chain stores.

here's an interesting news article re: this email...

Here is a link that might be useful: news article

LOL, Chase, I just don't shop. (grin)

Add me to the list of people who hate malls. I took Amanda last weekend for her birthday, it's what she wanted to do. It's was like torture, a zillion people, lines everywhere.

I've never shopped at Ann Taylor or The Gap. Ashley loved Pacsun, but I think they are all high end and over priced, I've never purchased anything at Cache because I could never find anything under $100, not even a tshirt!

Nope, I'll keep buying jeans and sweaters at J.C. Penney and Kohl's, along with my work suits and those $20 pumps from Shoe Carnival. I got my last pair of pajamas, some underwear and socks and a pair of slippers at Sam's Club, LOL, I went there for laundry soap and dishwashing liquid.

Oh, but I did go to Tuesday Morning and Marshall's and buy a candy thermometer, but I got right the heck out of Marshall's, way too many people.

I thought no one was shopping because of the economy but I stood behind 4 people at Tuesday Morning on Veteran's Day at 11 a.m. and there were at least a dozen people in line at Marshall's. On a Tuesday morning at 11 a.m.!

Oh, and I just picked Ashley up a Carhartt coat at Tractor Supply, that wasn't so bad. (grin) Elery says I'm the perfect woman, I can cook and I hate to shop, plus I leave ALL the wine for him!

Annie

Ditto the Linens N Things and now Circuit City, I see.

I agree with Gina - the mall anchored stores have been declining for a while. However, I think it's because shopping trends are changing. Whole malls have closed because their retailers are going to bigger, flashier outlets and bigger, better malls in nicer areas. Anyone familiar with the Columbus, Ohio area knows what I mean.

Not only that, but I wonder if some of these places are guilty of saturating the market and then becoming their own worst enemy. Some of these places have several stores in one area - who needs that? And a lot of them are higher end places that are very pricey - they cater to a smaller part of the population in general, and now more than ever because people are making less money (theoretically).

i wonder too how much internet sales are affecting this, especially with people who have a) no time or b) don't want to drive all over looking for things, or want to spend the gas money on it.

Anyone remember Phar Mor? I used to work at one and of course they went belly up because of bad accounting practices. But I'm sure having like six or eight stores within a five or ten mile radius didn't help, either.

I'm not totally against the boutique shops, etc. but around here, if you want to find a specific item, you can't find it in town. Underwear, for instance. LOL Maternity clothes, which I desperately need right now. Nope. They just don't have certain things, not to mention they shutter their doors wayyy earlier than other larger stores.

I usually shop at strip centers where you can park pretty much in front of the store you need. Easy in, easy out. You can get just about everything you need in those strip centers around here.

I do remember PharMor. There was one near my house and I loved it, they had good prices. But there was clearly something wrong with their organization, the store near me had snow shovels stocked. In Houston. Where it never snows. We got a good laugh out of that. I was sorry to see them go though.

According to something DH read in a trade mag, something like 180,000 rigs were taken off the road so far in 2008. He's able to find parking in truckstops that are normally overflowing, and many of the 24 hour restaurants have started closing at 10PM. No trucks = no freight moving. (And smaller paychecks.)

Sprint might not be losing so many customers if they would STOP CALLING THEM once or twice a week to try to sell them more phones/services. I'm happy with them except that one thing, and that one thing alone is going to make me drop them like a bad habit when my conttact is over.

I shop at a lot of "strip" type malls. I buy a lot of clothes at Talbot's. There are two open air malls near me that have Talbot's. These aren't the kind of strips that also have pizza places and chinese restaurants. They are far more manageable than the huge indoor malls.

At the big malls, I go to Lord & Taylor, Bloomies and Nordstrom, and not much else. I love the Nordstrom Rack outlet for shoes and there's one on the way home from work.

Oh well, pretty soon no one will be shopping for anything, we'll just be getting by with what we have. One store I know that is doing a huge business is my hospital's thrift shop.

I personally hardly ever shop at department stores. I try to patronize local stores for specific needs but will occasionally shop at Kohls or Sears. I like to do most of my Christmas shopping over the internet. Why wait an hour in line to purchase something? Just drives me nuts. Speaking of store closings and I suppose I should start another posting, but what about restaurants. We have had the following close just recently: Uno Chicago Pizza, Lone Star Steakhouse, Don Pablos Mexican Kitchen, Denny's, Cookers,Bennigans, Steak and Ale, and many local small restaurants and some other chains that I can't recall off-hand. Very scary. When the big boys (not the restaurants!) close you know things are bad. We have had tens of thousands of foreclosures in just my county over the last few months. Annie, do you have room in the barn for some farm helpers? LOL.

Duane

Oh yeah, Duane, can you shovel manure, fix fence and chase cattle? If so, I can guarantee you that you'll eat well and have a warm place to sleep. (grin) It might be heated with the body heat of cattle and horses, but it'll be warm.

No shopping at high end stores, or even low end stores, LOL, but if it comes to it, I have two horses and a set of harness, they can pull a plow to earn their keep and feed us.

However, I gotta tell you, I won't miss any of those chain restaurants, I far prefer the "Mom and Pop" diners and local restaurants to the food service choices that most chain restaurants give me. I owned a bar and grille for too many years, so I always recognize that "mass market" type food.

One of the reasons I shop at Penney's and Kohl's is because I CAN shop on line, I don't have to drive 50 miles to get there and if I bought Lee jeans there three months ago, they'll still have my size and I know how they'll fit. Ditto shoes, skirts, suits, etc. I'm not very fashionable and don't care so I buy a couple of things in the spring to get me through the summer and a couple of things in the fall to get me through the winter and wear Carhartt sweats to the farm so I don't have to shop much. I don't wear jewelry, don't go to parties and don't socialize unless I'm at Elery's or he's here, the rest of the time I'm at work, at home or at the farm. Oh, but I did buy a couple of men's extra large t-shirts for a buck each at my local grocery store, I wear them to sleep in.

May, there are strip malls here too, and you can park pretty near the stores, but when it's 20 below zero and snowing, and you're in a heated vehicle, you have to bundle up to go into the store, then un-bundle to shop, put everything back on to go back out and then you're too hot in the car, LOL. Well, other people do, I just jump out of the Jeep without a coat and go in and shop. I go outside if I get too hot.

One more reason I mostly stay home between November and March. Too many stores turn the heat up! (grin)

Annie

It's funny how we're so used to, well, what we're used to! I definitely feel for the snowy shopping excursions those in the north have to go through -- I'd probably NEVER go shopping in the winter if I lived there. LOL I'm an admitted weather wimp!

Here it's the summer that could kill you. Back when malls were new (yes I'm old enough to remember!) the pitch was "all weather mall", which around here meant, stay out of the heat & humidity. A local mall which was built in the late 50s, JUST before the concept of "all weather malls" lingered for years -- it was just like any other mall except that the middle wasn't covered. It did very little business but all efforts to tear it down and convert it to other uses were foiled by the existing 100 year leases by JCPenney and another couple of stores who refused to give up their sweet deals.

Finally someone figured out that the best thing to do was invert the mall -- instead of all the stores facing into the uncovered mall, they built it out with all the stores facing out with NO middle -- a very large glorified strip mall. Now it's among the busiest "malls" in the city!

The only difference really is that you can park in front of the store you need instead of being forced to roam down mall corridors. It's so successful it's become a model for other dead malls.

But I wonder if the model would work in the north...

There's a very nice big new (about a year old) shopping complex about an hour away,near Allentown, that tries to get away from the hermetically-sealed mall feeling. It's like streets you walk around in. There's L.L. Bean and the beautiful Fresh Market food store, and a lot else I haven't been to. A friend and I were thinking about going there the other day, and we looked outside at the howling 30-degree wind, and said, No. It seems like the coming thing, and very attractive, in decent weather.

I do have fond memories of Christmas shopping in the old days, when there were no malls here. You'd go from the crisp cold air into the department stores downtown, and somehow it felt much more bracing and Christmasy than dragging yourself and your winter coat through the endless and exhausting King of Prussia Mall.

Well, my boss loves Ann Taylor and got this email today. We'd been discussing store closings so she forwarded it to me:

Dear Valued Client:

It has come to our attention that false and misleading information, regarding our Company and our store closure program, is circulating on the Web, as part of a hoax to scare consumers away from purchasing gift cards. Ann Taylor is a financially strong Company that operates nearly 1,000 Ann Taylor, LOFT, Ann Taylor Factory and LOFT Outlet stores across the U.S. In January 2008, we announced plans to close some underperforming stores, as part of a strategic restructuring program to make us an even stronger Company that can continue to serve you in the future. Our gift cards continue to be a popular and great option for gifting this Holiday season and can be redeemed at any of our stores, as well as online at anntaylor.com and anntaylorLOFT.com. We look forward to serving you again soon!

Kay Krill
President and Chief Executive Officer
Ann Taylor Stores Corporation

For whatever it's worth.....

Annie

Check out Snopes.com, as usual.

Here is a link that might be useful: store closing email

Interesting article-
FYI the Ann Taylor store in Beverly Hills is open, but has a sign on the building offering "leasing opportunities"! It's not their customer and I'm pretty sure that there's a mall store nearby. Then again, Gap & Banana Republic are on the next block and look to be doing good business.

Where do I shop? I don't unless I absolutley must. Nothing like moving cross-country a couple of times to convince me I don't need or want any more "stuff". If we must replace something, I try an independent store first. I do find myself in Wally World (unde protest) because that's where the person I usually shop wants to go and she's driving. I buy stuff like light bulbs and toilet paper there...nothing I expect to last or be of any quality. Most of our clothes are from Lands End or LL Bean. If I ever go back to an office job, I'll be in deep hurt, I guess.

There are plenty of shopping streets/neighborhoods here that going to a mall is not a necessity. Not all malls are all covered here either, particularly Century City Mall, which has a parking structure, but you walk outside to go from store to store. Third Street Promenade is all outdoors, as is Rodeo Drive. Melrose Avenue is one of my favorite shopping streets, but I also like Sunset in the Silver Lake district. Hollywood and Highland also has a large central area that is open to the sky. There's really no need to cover these areas, since we don't have cold weather, and it's usually not too hot.

Lowspark, you are not a weather wimp if you can handle living in Houston in the summer! I lived there when I was going to Rice, but I never managed to stay there in the summer. Rice closed for the summer when I was there - they didn't want to subject the students (and professors and staff) to the heat and humidity.

DB had been telling me that Circuit City had been late with all their payments to Sony, and so we were not surprised when we found out that they were going into chapter 11. We bought a new TV recently and ended up getting it at Best Buy because they have a brand (Insignia) that got good reviews and was well under the employee discount price that DB could get from Sony for a similar LCD widescreen TV. I gave our old widescreen TV to the neighbors, for helping us move it out of the house. It was a rear projection TV and was huge!! I'm much happier with the flat screen TV, and our old TV, even though it was HD, was not compatible with Blu-ray. DB had bought a Blu-ray player a couple of weeks ago at a company sale (at Sony) along with an AV amplifier, but we could not get a picture on our old TV with it. Finally, I broke down and bought a new 47" Insignia flat screen LCD TV, and we're much happier with that. We only have a few Blu-ray discs, but we're starting to collect them. The old DVDs are supposed to look better on Blu-ray player, but it's difficult to tell.

Lars

Another anti-shopper. A lot of my wardrobe, sadly, is from Costco. I love the no-hassle return policy. The clothes are body coverings but would be hard pressed to pass as fashion! The rest is off the sales rack of the petite section at Macy's or Marshalls. Alice loves the mall but now that she can drive I no longer need to be subjected to the torment.

I tend to shop on an as-needed basis and buy just that item. As a consequence I don't have things hanging in my closet that have never been worn.

Another here who hates to shop especially at malls. I've never been a 'mall crawler'. I shop only when there's a specific need for something & then first turn to online shopping. Second, I'll shop locally here in Mystic. It's very rare that one of those two choices is insufficient. We purchased a new freezer a couple months ago. We bought it from our local appliance store...no Sears or Best Buy for us! The service we received was stellar & it's nice to walk into the store & be greeted by name.

My everyday clothes are Denim & Co from QVC where I also purchase undies & shoes. My good clothes are from small local boutiques & I purchase basics that transcend annual styles changes so I can wear them for years. My good shoes are also from QVC...I purchase them in October during their Shoes On Sale events benefiting breast cancer. I've been doing that for about ten years.

We don't have national stores here but there's a very nice selection of sole proprietor stores both on Main Street & Mystic Village (that's where the cooking store is). If that fails...Stonington Boro is just 2 miles away & they've got a nice selection that's a bit different from Mystic. I really just don't have any need for the big, national stores.

We will not shop the box stores like HD, Lowe's, WM, Costco, etc. Good thing too 'cause there are none close. A drive to our nearest HD & back would take half a day! Much rather purchase from our locally-owned hardware store.

All these stores going under did employee lots of people though who are now without jobs and/or benefits. :(

/tricia

Another store that's gone BK is Lenox/Deptartment 56. Department 56 purchased Lenox 3 years ago & the merger didn't go well for management. They're in Chapter 11 & trying to obtain Debtor In Possession financing to continue operation of the Lenox & Dept. 56 brands. In this banking climate who knows if they'll be able to obtain the needed Debtor In Possession funds? I rather doubt they'll be successful. They also own the Gorham brand.

/tricia