Retail casualities continue to mount... "despite the strong economy"

[ck4829]

Barracks Road Shopping Center’s go-to location for bird feeders, peacock wind spinners, and outdoor furniture is nearly empty now. Plow & Hearth will end its 30-year-plus run at Barracks Road March 1, and increased rent was a factor in the decision to shutter the store.

“Our lease was coming to term and it had some economics that didn’t work for us,” says Paul Abugattas, Plow & Hearth director of retail operations. “Our online business is healthy while retail continues to decline.” The company has closed five of its 23 stores in the past year, and plans to invest more in its Madison properties, including a flagship store there, he says.

“Because the rents are getting to be so high,” says Miller, “the local mom-and-pop and brick-and-mortar stores are priced out.” Those establishments, he says, will filter to midtown (West Main) and downtown, where former Barracks Road tenants Shenanigans and Lynne Goldman Elements, respectively, have migrated. He predicts Barracks Road will become a “bastion of national brands that have very little ties to this community.”

Many retailers across the country are struggling and closing stores, despite the strong economy. The New York Times reports 9,000 shuttered in 2019, with another 1,200 closings announced so far this year (Which if it continues at this pace, it will quickly exceed the 9000 from last year). Fashion Square Mall has seen a steady stream of vacancies, losing anchor Sears and most recently Gap.

https://www.c-ville.com/retail-casualties-plow-and-hearth-closes-barracks-road-store-will-others-be-next/

Chalk up another asterisk for that "strong economy".

[democratisphere]

1. Wall Street ain't Main Street.

Main Street is going dark and its former shoppers are buried in debt. Great economy my arse.

MAGA. Making Americans Get Angry.

[True Blue American]

2. One major, long time Retailer

Here is gone. Elder Beerman, replaced by Odd Lots. JC Penney, Sears and Macy’s closing stores.

While Goodwill is building huge, fancy buildings all over selling supposed Charity stuff.

What is wrong with this picture?

[Chipper Chat]

3. I can buy some clothes cheaper at walmart

Than I can at Goodwill.

[True Blue American]

4. The irony of that?

The new Goodwill is next to Walmart.!

I ordered a Presto perc from Walmart. It was here right on the dot. Just had a fresh cup. Delicious.

I will not be shopping or giving to Goodwill.

[The Genealogist]

9. We have another charity thrift store lime goodwill where I live

They keep expanding and building newer and nicer stores. There are a few good buys here and there, but in most cases I can find cheaper and new at tj maxx or Marshalls. I don't think I have been to goodwill, but they sound like two peas in a pod.

[Sherman A1]

5. It is a perfect storm in the Retail Sector

Amazon is just one of the last straws sucking out the remaining money. This has been building since the 1980s and isn't going to end soon or will end nicely for traditional brick and mortar locations.

[CentralMass]

8. I've resisted using Amazon.

[forthemiddle]

6. It's not where people are buying

It's how much they are buying.

The retail shops are closing because people aren't shopping there. Instead they are shopping on line. Shop closings, in this case, are not necessarily because of a bad economy. It's because people can get the same wares either cheaper, or more conveniently.

People want convenience, not experience. Look at restaurants closing dining rooms, or not building sit down areas (Pizza Hut) because so many people are ordering take out. Yet those places are still selling the same amount of pizzas, it's just that the younger generation aren't going and sitting down in there restaurants. Door Dash, Uber Eats, Waiters on the Go, etc are available for everything.

It's a new digital world, and I don't see that changing anytime soon, but that isn't necessarily a reflection of the economy.

[ck4829]

10. Don't do the work of the pundit class and beltway yes-men for them

Saying and repeating “x is happening, despite the strong economy” helps them out, it does no favors to the people who work, buy from, etc. from these things.

[IADEMO2004]

7. Walmart in town 20 miles away. Shopco and K-Mart here closed.

I now buy underwear at Amazon. DAMN