The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
Do you think shopping malls will survive the next 10 years, and how often do you visit the mall?
Talk about it….
29 comments
No, they will be gone in the next 10 years and will become hubs for autonomous vehicle subscription services. This is where the cars will go to recharge, be repaired, and generally their homebase and transfer hubs.
With the direction our county and state are going … not in 10 years. I wonder if they will still be around at the end of 2021 right now. The buildings may still be there … but I have serious doubts if they will function as a mall much longer.
I was just thinking about that today. I was thinking about how a lot of stores have a low inventory and some items are hard to find. Consequently, myself and a lot of other people will find the item we’re looking for online and order it. Also, it seems people are getting lazier and rather than go to a mall to look around and shop, they shop online. It’s the domino effect, we’ve been seeing it for several years now. Once thriving big department stores are shutting down a lot of their stores, and soon we will have no alternative than to shop online. Besides government agencies ordering shutdowns, Amazon and Google are playing a huge roll in this dilemma. They have all the money and control what we see, and the naive public continues to support them.
We’ll be under house arrest for at least 8 years, until the Democrat party destruction is voted out. If anyone thinks Covid restrictions will ever be lifted, at least in occupied Cal, then keep wishing, and most retail establishments will not survive.
It depends, I think. Broadway Plaza is a great destination, a public square that people will flock to when Covid is over. I am convinced people will want that badly. I think the Sun Valleys of the world will struggle more, as they don’t offer the same experience.
What makes you say it’s going to be 8 years. I figured the way they’re going to screw things up, in 2 years both houses of Congress will flip and then 2 years after that the dems will be out totally.
@Paul
Unfortunately you are right.
Recall NEWSOME!!
I believe many of the self contained ones like Sun Valley will close within 10 years while the open air ones like Willows will do better. Hard to have sympathy for the self contained ones with their flat walls looking like they are turning their backs on the community. I believe they originally were designed to kill nearby shopping districts. The walk down main street USA at Disneyland actually had some basis in fact as small town America. The mall building craze from the late 1950s on killed many of these districts and subsequently the buildings were repurposed or torn down. Lots of places wish they could have their old towns back and are stuck with an aging mall, now in financial trouble. Some will close, others will try to repurpose themselves somehow. Showcasing is always needed where you can try out a product, so for example I might go to a department store to find the right Levis blue jeans for me, but after that my follow up purchases will be online. There are several websites devoted to stories and pictures of what they call dead malls, but sadly the best one actually had that name but it does not seem to be maintained so is missing pictures and links.
I do, I think Broadway Plaza and the outlets in Livermore are doing great. People will always like walking around and being able to touch things before they buy. It gets them out of the house and moving around.
Been 12 years since I’ve been to Sun Valley or any other mall.
Locally, I’d say the indoor malls will all be gone in the next five years.
SlumValley has 18 more months at most
Since I work at SunValley I have to be optimistic. When Macy’s opened up in June after being closed for 3 month, I cannot tell you how many customers voiced their appreciation of us being open, and although our dressing rooms are closed people still like to see the colors and feel the texture of what they are buying. Certainly during this Holiday season we were extremely busy, many days, what I call crazy busy. Last week I had to go to Macy’s Walnut Creek to pick up something that I couldn’t get at SunValley, I was surprised to see that they did not seem as busy as the SunValley Macy’s. Of course I was only there for about 20 minutes so not a fair assessment. Macy’s online purchases are way up, but lots that are bought on line is for in store pick up, which means the customer still have to go to the store, once in the store they tend to look around and will often find other things to buy. Many on line purchases are returned in store, because most people prefer just going to the store, rather than re-package their items and then go to the post office. Let’s face it going to Macy’s is more fun than standing in line at the Post Office.
I think to some degree, enough will remain open, with primarily middle range restaurants, dessert kiosks/shops like that Field’s cookies, and then specialty stores, such as Lego, where, to date, Amazon has not been able to completely displace. I think people still enjoy walking around and looking around, or going out to eat in these joints..
I don’t think they will survive. It’s all my fault. Free shipping is so appealing.
I’ve actually started visiting malls after they’ve reopened, after not being in one for several years. I enjoyed it! And I’m a man. I know the trend is towards online shopping, which I’ve done a lot myself too but I don’t think people will ever give up the desire to go in the store and actually see feel touch and smell things. And sorry to be sexist, but I think women especially like doing that. And what are you going to do if you need a new pair of pants or shoes today? What about some work clothes? You going to wait online forever, or go get it in the store today?
I love the shopping mall even if its just to walk and window shop. Shopping online, especially for clothing, is just so boring after almost a year of lockdowns. Now that I’ve had Covid and recovered, I feel fee to shop til I drop! I think others will feel the same once this is over.
I think Sun Valley will be open for at least another 12 to 15 years, although I do they think they will be on a gradual downward spiral. I’ve gone once or twice since they opened during the pandemic and was shocked by how many people were there and how many stores were in business. With that being said, I think Stoneridge Mall and a bunch of other indoor malls will be long gone and will likely be housing for sure.
Our family was there this past Sunday. We saw more employees in some stores than shoppers-very sad. Many exits were closed as we were told to prevent shoplifting rings from easy in/out access. One of the jewelry stores had the gate down with the lights on and employees inside. I asked if they were open and was told the gate was for security reasons( only one person or couple allowed inside at a time). No, unfortunately it’s done. Unless the owners are given more stimulus or a break on their rents, I’d say Christmas 2021 will be their last.
The malls are too convenient. You can’t feel the cloth or see how it fits when you are online. We just need the virus to go away.
… imho they will be downsized considerably and will be fewer of them …. I visit 1-2 times / year
The vast majority of these malls are simply a product of a bygone era.
If any survive ten years, it would be those with certain product lines that would not do well over the internet. Without covid, they could hang on longer. Still, touch and feel will come back as shopping will change back eventually and will be “discovered” by young people.
I haven’t been to a mall in two years. I used to go to Broadway Plaza, but they ruined it, in my opinion. I used to go to Sunvalley and I noticed that many people were not carrying bags and were not shopping at all. Shopping is a primary entertainment for urban dwellers. I was never into it.
I don’t think Malls as they stand today will survive. Sun Valley is dying a slow death, Antioch Mall is a ghost town, I don’t think the Willows will survive. Malls like the ones in Southern California which are dining and entertainment with limited clothing will be the new model while Amazon takes over the bulk of shopping. So sad that Montgomery Wards, Sears, Penney’s with all the catalogs and distribution hubs didn’t have the Amazon vision. They would have killed Amazon because they didn’t have to build an infrastructure they just needed an on-line store.
hope they will, going today again actually, trying to not give the Amazon thieves my money anymore as much as possible. I for one wouldn’t want to see physical shopping die out but Amazon would like nothing more I’m sure
Tough to say. I think they will be around, but perhaps not in the same capacity that they are in now.
If SVM lasts five years from now I’d be surprised. A huge turn off for me was when all the shoplifting started. Then stories about the parking lots not being safe. I remember when I first started going there in the 80s the main part of the mall had very wide aisles. They kept making them smaller and smaller, stupid kiosks filling up even more space and annoying vendors. They put up the skylights which made the mall too hot for me to enjoy strolling around. After a certain age the stores have nothing for you to buy. It is all ball caps and sports shoes now.
These remnants will be referred to as “Newsomvilles”.
Sad about sun valley, it seemed some of the newer additions were leading to bigger crowds, the BJs+Lucille’s+the arcade center always seemed packed before the Chinese virus.
The arcade center made you pay $3 just to get the physical card you need to play games. You have to pay $3 to be able to pay money to play games. That was weak.
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