Where Husbands And Boyfriends Go To Die While Still Alive
Ladies, at least give a man a choice, like whether he'd prefer to have you run over him in a minivan several times.
Please buy my book, "Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck," only $9.48 at Amazon and about that at Barnes & Noble. New copies help me earn back my advance and support me as a writer -- of this site and more.
On the subject of modern annoyances: I consider valet parking paid kidnapping for your car. It is not fancy. What's fancy is not having to wait in line after dinner to go home.
Amy Alkon at September 26, 2014 7:42 AM
Y'know, there was a time when malls weren't like they are now. Malls used to contain a wide variety of stores; in a typical mall you'd find a grocery store, a drugstore, a sporting goods store, a barbershop, a record shop, a musical instrument store, lawn and garden centers, appliance stores, an electronics store (with real electronics parts and projects, not just a glorified cell phone outlet), a hobby store, even auto parts. I recall one mall here had a men's shoe store (such a thing doesn't even exist anymore), another had a store that sold gym equipment, and another had a "store" that was a slot car racing facility.
In the '70s, the "fashion mall" concept came along and it swept away everything in its path. It targeted teenage girls and young women as its audience, abandoning the broad-based marketing of older malls. It raised rents to sweep out the lower-margin businesses, leaving only the high-margin fashion stores. Everything that happened aftet that was inevitable: Chains took over the stores, such that the contents of the malls became interchangable. Men, families and older people stopped going, becuase there was nothing there for them. And inevitably, once the malls became places with a high concentration of young women, they became magnets for predatory men, and then the gangs took over.
Meanwhile, the big-box stores catered to the clientele that the malls had abandoned, and used that as a lever to expand their markets at the malls' expense. And now it appears that online retailers will be the final straw. We see the results all over America: abandoned malls, malls converted into office space, or torn down to create parking space for the big boxes.
Cousin Dave at September 26, 2014 7:49 AM
Gangs? What malls are you going to?
NicoleK at September 26, 2014 8:26 AM
I'll never forget the first time I walked through a mall that was near death. It was in the 1980's... Theretofore, malls had seemed like a bulletproof mechanism for retail success in America.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at September 26, 2014 10:32 AM
Nicole, I had the experience several years ago of walking into a now-deceased mall in St. Louis (near Ferguson). I could tell on the ouside that the mall had seen better days but had once been nice, and it seemed to still be functional. However, once I was inside, the picture changed. It quickly became apparent that in the pedestrian areas, I was the only person there who wasn't a gangbanger. Empty storefront after empty storefront, and a totally abandoned lower level that the gangs were probably using as their clubhouse. It was near the end of the month, and I walked past two stores where the proprietors were busy taking the store apart and packing up, and it looked like they were doing it as absolutely fast as their arms and legs could work. I went into the Macy's and about ten salespeople pounced on me; apparently I was the only person they had seen all evening that vaguely resembled a paying customer. I felt so bad for them that I bought a couple of shirts out of pity, and I hardly had to move -- anything I wanted, they brought to me.
There's a mall here, built in the mid-'80s, that is in the process of being abandoned. The area got over-built on malls and most of its stores (the ones that are still in business) are moving to a newer mall. This mall has had some problems with gangs since the late '90s; a lot of people won't go there on Saturday night. I expect that to get worse. The disposition of the mall and the property is already being discussed around town.
Cousin Dave at September 26, 2014 10:56 AM
I should add that my critique of the fashion mall is not specific to the fact that it focused on young women per se. I think any concept in which an entire shopping district (and that's what a mall is) focuses on a narrow market segment is likely to fall apart under the weight of its own pathologies. I don't expect that a "bro mall" featuring nothing but T-shirt, video game, and martial arts stores would fare any better.
Cousin Dave at September 26, 2014 11:06 AM
Malls are always trying to ride the latest trends.
It is really crazy to put a lot of expensive fixtures into a retail rental space, which is why all chain restaurants have pretty much abandoned that concept.
Hard to do business where you cant set up a drive through window.
That "No Firearms" sign at the entrance to most malls is enough to keep me away permanently.
Isab at September 26, 2014 11:19 AM
"Gangs? What malls are you going to?"
What malls are you going to NicoleK that would make you make such a naïve comment? Ever heard of the Mall of America?
Dave B at September 26, 2014 12:47 PM
Why shop at malls when you can go yard-saling instead? You just have to be a bit patient to find what you need. The one or two times per year that I'M in a mall, I never see anything more attractive - in clothing or other departments - than what you can get second-hand. (Even Neiman Marcus isn't what it used to be, sadly - not that I could ever afford them.)
BTW, I know a man, about to turn 70, who LIVES for yard sales - and makes a profit on what he gets from them. (He pretty much has to - his apartment is tiny.)
lenona at September 26, 2014 1:45 PM
Another nice thing you could do for a guy is to let him eat the occasional ear of corn.
Steve Daniels at September 26, 2014 7:00 PM
NicoleK is in Switzerland, I believe. But here in the USA, southern New England, there are malls that also are gang-magnets. I'll shop at them during the day if I need anything from one of the stores, but after 6 p.m., I'm gone. I won't go to the movies there because of all the gangbangers. I have no need to be around these fools. Ever.
Flynne at September 27, 2014 5:06 AM
NicoleK:
The Regency Mall, in southern Augusta, Georgia, was opened in precisely the wrong part of town.
Developers bet that that side of town would be developed. Instead, it became even more of a slum.
Police were prohibited from doing anything about gang activity because it was "discriminatory*" - the local city and county governments are famous in the Southeast for being mired in racial gridlock.
The last store to close was a Jefferson Ward, in which merchandise had to be locked with bicycle chain against shoplifting.
*- the police offered to interrogate any white or Hispanic gangs they encountered, but that was called, "divisive" and so forth.
Radwaste at September 30, 2014 7:24 AM
I live in Southern New England like Flynne and definitely agree with her statement about gangs at the local malls.
Debbie F at September 30, 2014 9:41 AM
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