Can the US EVER see a 1980s retail boom again or has the ship sunk?

The 80s and again in the early 00s we recovered smartly after 9/11 cause Bush told Americans on live TV to go out and spend instead of being afraid. And they (we) did. We went traveling locally in our state right away to see things while the news was having it's own 'pandemic' living in the fear sector too long (which I think was done to make Bush look like a bad loser) so they kept all these scare stories going yet people were going to the mall in record amounts despite tourism low. In fact tourism recovered pretty fast a year later more then the 'TV Experts' were saying it would. They were wanting a depression it seemed. When the towers fell we DID literally have a 1929 style crash but it lasted like only a month.

In fact when Trump was around the first two years of his economy boom our local malls had more shoppers then ever even during the week days when it would usually be quiet so I wounded up not going half the time because I don't do well with crowds so I notice these things more. The Obama era you'd see hardly ANY shopping bags in people's hands. 1 out of 5 people would have a bag and malls were talking of strugling back then. In the Trump era malls were packed and things were heavily discounted with stores offering generous saving plans. Sadly we were broke during that time so we missed out.

We always are broke during good economic times and are a bit ahead during bad ones where things are more expensive. We just got recovered and this Biden 💩 happened instead. Good guys always finish last! Is the universal rule it seems!

a reply to: SortingHat

I just don't see it. Not with the death of the shopping malls.

a reply to: SortingHat

Retail chains along with malls have been folding for decades and saw a spike in 2018-19.

a reply to: SortingHat

Asians are the new 'consumer of last resort'.

www.brookings.edu...

I could be wrong but retail doesn't ever go back anyway it just shifts to another model, small businesses fill in the gaps. Regardless summer is not a good time to expect growth in retail. well at least historically.

Who knows in our new green energy economy, maybe we have summer growth now, but what sector would drive that growth?

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: SortingHat

Retail chains along with malls have been folding for decades and saw a spike in 2018-19.

Definitely, in our 9 state territory, so many of the retailers that are left have had to move to get lower more competitive rent, or just because they lost an anchor store and now they have 90% less traffic.


There is a growth industry, I love Statistica.

a reply to: putnam6

Thinking there was some kind of mall boom in 2018-19 is funny. It's like thinking there was also a Sears and Toys R Us boom at the same time.

That ship has sunk!
All the big ones are steadily on their way out - Macy's, J C Penney, etc.
Our local J C Penney closed a few years back, they are constantly closing more, and our mall here is half empty -
What does that tell you?
That virus from China sealed the fate of the malls, they are never going to rise again.

Walmart started it, Amazon finished it.
Brick and mortar stores for general retail sales are a thing of the past.

Local hardware stores are still doing alright- specialty stores for services (a place that sells wood stoves and related services) .... grocery stores are fine as long as the food supplies keep coming.

Places like Sears? they're done for. It costs less to have the same things delivered to your door, there's no way to compete with that.

originally posted by: lordcomac
Walmart started it, Amazon finished it.

Walmart, for all it's scumbagery, started the same year as Target and K-Mart. One of the latter two is nearly gone so it's really about adaptability and proper investment. I'm sure at some point both Walmart and Amazon will be gone as well, nothing is eternal, but a lot of the retail collapse can be blamed on mismanagement.

Walmart hit the skids when they defied Sam Walton’s principles of American made goods. Go thank Hillary for that. She was on the board when it became China Mart.

Kmart and Sears were both failing and joined a death spiral together. Target followed the Walmart model of Made in China, but never had the legacy of Sam Walton to betray. Sears followed the old turn of the 20th century model of workers and management for each department. Which made them top heavy and thus expensive. JCPenny still follows that model. Kmart, Walmart and Target keep labor in departments, but management floats through the whole store. Similar to grocery store models.

Amazon took on aspects of Ebay as some sellers are not Amazon warehouse fulfillment centers. If I wanted to make candles or quilts or whatever, I could partner with Amazon as a seller. I would have to meet certain criteria. But really you do the same with Walmart as well, well you used to start by making the trip to Benton, AR with a sample of your product…

For me the biggest laugh is new, crowdsourced funded products on kickstarter. 90% of which is just an American made copy of the Chinese ad of the already well developed product on Alibaba. You are crowdsourcing a large order for volume pricing rates. Most of that ends up on Amazon Marketplace at a reasonable markup (compared to the kickstarter price).

originally posted by: Ahabstar
Walmart hit the skids when they defied Sam Walton’s principles of American made goods. Go thank Hillary for that. She was on the board when it became China Mart.

Walmart opened its first import office in Hong Kong in 1981 while Sam Walton was still alive and was Chairman/CEO.

originally posted by: RonnieJersey
That ship has sunk!
All the big ones are steadily on their way out - Macy's, J C Penney, etc.
Our local J C Penney closed a few years back, they are constantly closing more, and our mall here is half empty -
What does that tell you?
That virus from China sealed the fate of the malls, they are never going to rise again.

Our mall used to be awesome but now we don't go beyond the outer stores like Dillard's. Last time I walked through the mall, it looked like Shreveport and I could smell weed on half the people I walked past. Not only that, but half of the stores inside were no longer open for business because they opened up in better areas. Also, not a single jewelry store on the inside was open anymore when there used to be four.

a reply to: LSU2018

The mall was a fad concept from the 50's/60's that lived far longer than it should have. People should be shopping in their local downtowns instead of charmless voids like a shopping mall.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: LSU2018

The mall was a fad concept from the 50's/60's that lived far longer than it should have. People should be shopping in their local downtowns instead of charmless voids like a shopping mall.

I suppose so, the malls around here thrived in the 80's, 90's, and early 00's. South Park Mall (Shreveport) closed in 2005 after murders and robberies plagued it. We always had really good clothing, shoe, music, and toy stores in our Bossier City mall, now all we have are shoe stores, Spencer's, and middle easterners selling fake gold and cubic zirconia in the walkways. That's not going to attract the middle to big spenders. Both Pierre Bossier Mall and Mall St. Vincent (Shreveport) are hanging on by threads.

a reply to: SortingHat
It can now
SCOTUS just stopped the dems from using the epa to mandate energy policy

Manufacturing can return now

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Walton died in 1992, Hillary served 1986-1992, then was a silent member while FLOTUS. On Sam’s death was when Walmart went full swing to Chinese goods along with Bill Clinton further opening the market with China, leading to major outsourcing of US manufacturing jobs.

That combo was the death knell for the US economy. We have spiraled ever since. With the minor blip of a couple years from some Orange dude saying to bring it back. Until some others decided to lockdown the world over a mutated common cold.

Now, the US will probably have to go full isolationist to get manufacturing back domestically again.

a reply to: LSU2018

Sounds like people should be doing more local shopping and not bothering with malls.

originally posted by: Ahabstar
Walton died in 1992, Hillary served 1986-1992...

That's nice, they had already initiated their massive growth plan by then which was fueled by cheap crap from China that Sam Walton was the architect of, he doesn't get a pass.

originally posted by: lordcomac
Places like Sears? they're done for. It costs less to have the same things delivered to your door, there's no way to compete with that.

Sears could have competed by having appliances in stock (though malls are the wrong place to sell them).

Even before Covid you could look at a showroom full of stuff, but none of it was actually for sale! They had to order it in, couple weeks out.

Little help when something dies and you need a replacement today.