Decline and Fall of the Mall?

[Pholus]

1. Sadly. While I dislike malls it's clear the replacement jobs will not be local.

In the middle of the country (MN) where I grew up 40 years ago, I remember nothing but family stores as a kid.

The first "big box" (Pamida) coming in was a major fight for our town. People at the time thought that the businessmen were greedy and just couldn't stand the idea of competition --they welcomed the change. They were wrong.

Pamida wasn't that bad. But then it got worse...

Walmart came in and dried up the family stores (and Pamida). Lots of comfortable jobs destroyed in favor of the minimum wage. The town population declined sharply.

Now the internet will dry up what managed to stay in the margins of what Walmart didn't do. Of course, that means the minimum wage jobs will now be somewhere else in someone else's shipping rooms.

As much as I detest malls, at least those jobs are local.