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The slow death of the American shopping mall

Well I suppose changing your clothes isn't progress.
 
Same as the roller rink on a Saturday morning, the malls will fade into history. Its a new world, but not necessarily better.
 
Stanton said:
Keep in mind that asking what size the engine is to buy wiper blades is what the computer wants them to ask. Then the parts often have to be ordered in. Why wait for them to come in to the parts store then make another trip when I can go on RockAuto and a) it remembers what my vehicle is and b) gives me a ton of price and delivery options.

An hour ago I was help a friend with a toilet problem. We need a new fill valve. All stores are currently "curb pickup" to to covid restrictions. So if we order that "on line" from the local HD, we have to wait for an email telling us when to DRIVE OVER and pick it up. The thing is the same price on Amazon and would be delivered tomorrow- probably before we'd be able to pick it up at HD !!
Click to expand...

My point is that the conversation is a waste of time. Unlike most people I usually know what my car needs and I don't need to waste time with the jerk off behind the counter that can't tell the difference between a firebird formula or a trans am. So in cases like this I appreciate places like rockauto because it streamlines the experience.

Under Pressure said:
How ironic that mail order is what put Sears and JC Penny on the map so many many years ago and is the very method of what took them out, how many of us remember a Sears catalog on or under the coffee table.
I still like going out and supporting brick and mortar so I can speak with people and look at products before I buy.
Reminds me of losing our drive in’s, a lot of that was due to land values, but Beta and VHS helped it along in the late 70’s and early 80’s as people got used to the ease of staying home on the couch after picking up a movie on the way home from work
Some changes I can do without
Click to expand...

When my mom set down the Sears catalog around the holidays and asked us what we wanted, it was the GREATEST time of the year. Those were the days.

Stanton said:
If you're not receptive to change you'll be run over by progress. One reason many good companies fail - because they didn't adapt. Likewise with people - how many lost their jobs because they wouldn't - not couldn't - wouldn't adapt. In my career I let a few of them go.
Click to expand...

That's ok. There are more days behind me than ahead of me; it won't be my problem for much longer. The kiddies and their progress can go and have a good time without me...
 
My clothing style doesn't change. My hair style does from time to time. The music I like has not changed much in 25 years either.
I still like the same foods. I still love framing houses, Mountain Dew and a corn dog occasionally.
I like Malls, I hate the low class clientele that I see at Wal Mart and other bottom dollar type stores. People with no respect for themselves disgust me. Take a shower....Wear clean clothes. Cover up your asscrack. Brush your hair and your teeth. Be polite to the employees.
 
moparedtn said:
Yeah, but for small towns like this one, it's the only game in town for a lot of stuff -
especially since the death of other retailers like KMart, Monkey Wards and such.
It's actually amazing to this day to me that a county this small (approx. 55k population)
HAS a WalMart!
Of course, this is a regional hub of sorts, totally surrounded by sparsely populated
regions...so Wally has a stranglehold on a lot of items by default.
Click to expand...
When I had my lake house that was surrounded by small towns 8 or so miles apart, Walmart had this game going on. They'd go to one town, buy up the mom and pop stores, open up in it, till everyone had to go to it, then close it and force people to go to the next town. They'd do this till they had people driving from all around to the store they decided they wanted them to go to, then build this big super center and it was game over. They herded and forced them by buying up competition. I don't and won't go to a Walmart.
 
You've got to accept the fact that change is unstoppable. You don't have to like it, and resistance will cause frustrations. You can vote with your wallet and not go to Wal-Mart, which I do myself, but the WIC society does just fine shopping there and business will increase as entitlements will increase.
I'm bracing myself as I believe we will see a magnitude of change over the next 8 years that has never been experienced in this world.

Ironic that I heard a radio commercial this morning that Pima County has a gas powered lawn trimmer buy back program..........
 
Frustration is what I get when I try to go into a Walmart. I'm not adverse to change, I'm against being herded against my will.
 
Kern Dog said:
I don't want to suck on anything.
I am the guy that finds what I want and then I want it to stay that way. When something is good and works, I don't want it to change.
Click to expand...
Lol, yeah I wish my wife's looks didn't change over the decades...and I say the same when I look in a mirror!
 
Reminds me of a Star Trek episode where people no longer needed their bodies...something like this. Over the next several generations maybe people won't have legs anymore and have 12 fingers (two thumbs on each hand) so they can type and tap the remote controls faster...har - har
 
Budnicks said:
I remember Sunrise Mall well used to cruise the mall
in my 68 Charger R/T, 50+ miles each way
we'd go to pick up chicks or think we were
(there was really slim pickings in Georgetown/Garden Valley Ca. rural area)
go there get/arrange street races, to go out El Camino Friday Sat nights
(before we'd go to the J-Street cruise after dark)
we'd even go shopping every so often, mostly cruising
back in my HS days class of 77' baby
it "was" always crowded, lots of the younger crowd there...

When I lived in Concord Ca. long before I moved up to
Garden Valley/in the sticks, to live with my dad, stepmother & stepbros
& adopted sisters on 165+ acres in the foothills ElDorado co.
we'd cruise & go to
Concord/Pleasant Hill, to Sun Valley shopping mall
do much of the same stuff we did at Sunrise mall, in Sacramento
I was just younger, didn't have a license "yet"
dropped off by my parents (oh the humility)
or go with my oldest sister or go with my older cousin Joe
or ride our bikes there

fun times
Click to expand...

Yeah, those were the places to go back in the day. Also Walnut Creek. Big car scene in the early 70s
 
Kern Dog said:
I don't want to suck on anything.
I am the guy that finds what I want and then I want it to stay that way. When something is good and works, I don't want it to change.
Click to expand...
gabby (2017_10_11 10_04_54 UTC).jpg
 
I prefer to buy local, there's a media campaign here promoting local business, and to be honest I avoid walmart or AutoZone. Regarding malls there only one big here, despite the pandemic, is always crowded, idiots that do not believe in the covid-19.
 
Ron H said:
Reminds me of a Star Trek episode where people no longer needed their bodies...something like this. Over the next several generations maybe people won't have legs anymore and have 12 fingers (two thumbs on each hand) so they can type and tap the remote controls faster...har - har
Click to expand...

these guys had a crystal ball or something........ it just happened a lot faster than they thought

Zager & Evans - In the Year 2525 - YouTube
 
Last edited:
0BDD6F18-3A3D-4642-A181-73CBDAD4A3E7.png
coronet68mx said:
I prefer to buy local, there's a media campaign here promoting local business, and to be honest I avoid walmart or AutoZone. Regarding malls there only one big here, despite the pandemic, is always crowded, idiots that do not believe in the covid-19.
Click to expand...

Been going here since in my 20’s and the owner here was also a young guy, and he hosts a car cruise in during the summer with hot dogs and chips
 
How many shoe and jewelry stores can you have under one roof and be successful?
 
Clothing, sunglasses, MUSIC stores, (Remember those?) Book stores, other stuff too...
 
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