Photojournalism
Everything Must Go
Dark times and dead malls.
by Brian Ulrich
Since January 2008, 221,000 retail stores nationwide have gone out of business. Here's a partial list of store deaths within a one-block radius of MoJo's San Francisco office: The New Balance store in our building quietly pulled up the stakes. So did a Gap, a Shoe Pavilion, a men's clothing store, and a retailer of fancy writing accessories. Our favorite bento place closed overnight. And luggage retailer Malm one day posted this note on its door: "Thank you for your patronage. After 141 years we are now closed for business." Photographer Brian Ulrich has been documenting the retail carnage across the nation as part of his larger project, Copia.
Kinda like the farm auctions during the last depression.
Sad.
Hopefully the people themselves will get through this and find another way to make a living, but as a recently laid off worker of almost 31 years of service I know it is a hard time to get through.
On the plus side my little anecdote is that the people I cam into contact with during some recent business travel seemed a little friendlier than I remembered.
Maybe I've changed, I dunno, or maybe some people have de-stressed a little. I really don't know, but I think many had gotten into a bit of hyperdrive and have come back down.
Tripp
Malls in Trouble
The price to be paid for the overbuilding of Malls and the Retail Sector is yet to be realized, The old "supply and demand" economics was thrown out the window when the BUBBLE of rising real estate prices in the residential and the commercial area, and the securitization of franchise contracts and Mall leases (REITS) resulted in wild speculation in our "easy credit" economy.
Someone ought to worry about the returning VETS and their family members who have been made targets of the franchisors and the Mall developers because of the 2007 Pilot SBA program, named The Patriot Express Loan Program to honor the vets for their service to their country. For sure! The regulators aren't talking about the fact that 50% of small businesses fail sometime within the first five years and that the actual. material risk of unit failure and profitability can be hidden by the franchisor because of inecffective regulation.
Apparently, the Congress of the US decided that "franchising" might AGAIN be the answer to pulling the nation out of the coiming recession and to provide "product" for the banks, and this is why they increased the guarantee recently from 85% to 90%.
Supply and demand
I disagree that this is a case of simple supply and demand economics. There are actually two kind of demand to be considered. The break down we've just seen involves a demand that was the result of the marketplace, not need. It's important to distinguish between the need for a multi-storied castle financed by irresponsibly attractive mortgage offerings (market-created demand) and a few affordable rooms, heat, security and community (reasonable-needs demand).
Re: Supply and demand
"Supply and demand" economics has nothing to do with distinguishing between what people want to buy and their actual needs. It is only concerned with what people are spending money on. When the spending on an item or service decreases, the "demand" has decreased, and the price should also. Or the business disappears.
But it is true that our values and our choices regarding what we really need and how much we accumulate beyond that are very skewed. Our culture of consumerism is bad for the soul, puts us in debt, and unfortunately, is exactly the "demand" that many economists as well as government leaders would say is good for our economy. What did Bush encourage us to do after Sept 11? Go shopping!
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Change is good.
Change is good.
Change
Well certainly not all types of change are good. I'm all for change when it comes to inefficient incumbents getting knocked down by new and innovative upstarts. But widespread bankruptcy and foreclosure is never good.
this is really sad
So many iconic stores are dying. I mean, I love the GAP in SF! Oh well, I guess not everything lasts forever, and things are bound to change at some point. I think its good that some old strip malls die out and are replaced with newer and more modern stores. justine@hostgator.com
You MISS the Gap?!? Well,
You MISS the Gap?!? Well, lucky you, there are only about 50 ba-gillion more gap stores for you to shop at now, how ever will you choose which one to visit?
Not to worry
The developers and retail corporations are writing off their losses as we speak. Of course you and I will have to make up the difference with our taxes but we can rest assured, no CEO will go without his or her bonus because of bad business decisions. They keep the profits and we make up for the losses. Did I mention that outsourcing is subsidized by your tax dollars?
The Economy..
tagged as:- solution
Reality is beginning to set in for the country as a whole. Unemployment has now exceeded 10% and will most likely increase. Our feds attempt to preclude a total financial collapse of our economic system by bailing out banks and some coroporations has apparently worked. However, we will continue with a very high unemployment rate for at least two years which will be followed by severe inflation. The dollar is declining in value on the world market and we may even lose it as the world's trading currency. Get ready for "hard times". I'm putting my money in tangible assets, gold and silver.
The pictures are gorgeous...
That one of the Target with the shopping cart laid on its side? Priceless. The hotel in the snow is a beautiful picture; Mr. Ulrich has provided a tremendous service to us. I am beyond schadenfreude; I currently see most of the world as if through a slit above a gun port, or a periscope. And, Mr. Murray, why on Earth would I accept in trade bits of shiny non-utilitarian metal for anything? Barter is back, sir, and I need lead, copper, tin, and iron. Pwetty spahklies mean doo-doo to a skilled worker in a shadow economy.
To "The Pictures are gorgeous"
The beginning of our financial collapse was when we got off the gold standard. That, coupled with the fractional reserve system, which permitted the banks, in effect, to "manufacture" money. They were permitted to loan up to ten times their "asset" value and their assets were inflated. The lack of sufficient government control or regulation of our banking system brought us to where we are today. The economic collapse is far from being over since the banking industry still does not have the constriants placed on it that are required. It should be recognized that that all money in existance is in reality debt. This economic picture isn't pretty at all.
The big, ugly, box-like,
The big, ugly, box-like, noisy, plastic, personality-less USAmerican Mall has been dying for years now. I remember in the 90's how downtown Seattle was booming and there wasn't enough space for all the retailers, and yes! department stores, to find a place to locate. People flocked to the city center streets, movie theaters sprang up etc. etc. and the suburban, dead brain, boring, look-alike Malls were struggling to stay open. People were/are sick of the awful Mall culture and yearned for real atmosphere and community interaction. It was certainly a hopeful thing. Long may it continue.
If we are to survive on this planet the materialism, especially on the scale in the US, must cease now. Live simply, that others may simply live.
change is good for a miniscule few
Any who see this purposely manipulated devastation of free enterprise as some natural cyclical change in the normal processes of capitalism are the perfect ledalong nincompoops the people behind this piracy want to be out front talking. One can visiualize the total surprise on their faces when the prices at McDonald's and WalMart go through the roof. But then, that mass of dense idiocy that make up Bush's base were never a quick study on anything.
The process of salvation is simple--investigate the entire financial services industry, the insurance industry, the elected officials on both sides of the aisle who take money from banks, financial institutions, the morguage/realty industry, etc. Especial attention should be paid to when and how all the middle men were insinunated into the process--traders, speculators, etc.
It is becoming more clear to me as time goes on, as I watch wheels of change that should be humming are grinding down from the sludge oozing from guilty politicians who have a whole hell of a lot to answer for.
Ah, theres the question we
Ah, theres the question we should be asking: where does the money go? Why is healthcare so expensive? Not becuase hospitals and doctors are making a killing.... Becuas ethe insurance companies are. MJ, you want to do some real reporting? Find out how much income the 3 big health care giants had last year vs their health care expenditures. Not their balance sheets either, we can all see that. What did they truly pay out for health care to customers? The delta between the two is waste and profit. You want fundamental change in health care? Remove the people making it so expensive: the insurance companies.
Beloit Mall in Beloit
Beloit Mall in Beloit Wisconsin.
They've moved the public library in so it doesn't look so dead but it's dead.
speculative building
Here in Fayette County, GA speculative retail building still abounds, which is probably why our unemployment rate is below the double digits. Yet banks in GA are setting records for going belly-up, largely due to real estate loans. Ironically, there was an article in a Fayette County paper recently railing against the FDIC! Apparently, crazy right wing goes all the way to the bone.
Even as more land in cleared, displacing wildlife and adding to metro Atlanta's heat island, and more and more retail building continues, existing structures empty and remain unoccupied. If the jobless recovery continues, who will patronize businesses which may be able to find the capital to start up? Those in the business world here don't seem to be reading the signs around them.
Why go shopping? Do you
Why go shopping? Do you really need to buy all that crap? Is it that important to your life? Is Fashion really anything besides a place to waste hard earned money on completely unnecessary items the very industry tells you to buy? Who cares who makes what you wear (besides you, and especially THEM) or the toys on which you waste your money. No one notices but you and those trying to take you down. Seriously, NO ONE NOTICES. But you still listen to the Bullhorn from the Towers above. Oh, wait, that's not "in" anymore, that's so last year. Buy this now. BUY IT. It's what all the cool people are doing! That millionaire on that one TV show run by billionaires is buying it! Sheeople, sheeople. Do you think companies actually care about you or what they provide? They only care about what YOU provide THEM. It has nothing to do with you, but it has Everything to do with your Money. A couple of stores closed. Good riddance. Less shiny objects with which to distract you from actual necessity. We don't NEED them. Protect yourself, protect those around you. Stop wasting income on things that aren't necessary. Circle the wagons and hold on tight. The ride is just beginning. They're telling you it's "getting better" because they need your money. Don't be fooled. It's not about you. The Vampires are getting Thirsty. Good. Let's not throw them any lambs. Unless you want to be the one slaughtered.
I think there was a wall that we had to hit
Many stores had opened just too many branches. There was one on every corner. And they were probably doing it with loans on loans.
Many people have been talked into mortgaging their houses to the hilt over and over again and spending on vacations etc, until they had no wealth to fall back on.
Businesses were allowed to pay the lower and lower salaries until people had no savings to fall back on, and the banks had no capital.
Consumers were encouraged to buy tons of 'stuff' and hire storage places to put it all.
People were brainwashed into thinking that they were rich, even if they did not have any savings in the bank. Instead they were encouraged to 'invest' it in the stock market which is about as secure as gambling. Casinos were making money hand over fist.
Good riddance
Bad thing about the loss of jobs, of course, but you do realized that most of the stores depicted in this essay sold useless environment destroying crap that people didn't know they "needed" until some advertiser told them so.
If we learn anything from this debacle, it's that our lives and our economy are based around consuming junk that is simply destroying the world around us.
Good riddance.
shopping
Shopping is something I do once a week, ever since gas got too expensive. Keep in mind that most people in this country do not have a lot of extra money to throw around once they've attempted to pay their bills. I do not own Chinese chotchkas, but because we don't manufacture much of anything, all my appliances and electronics come from there anyway. That said, I haven't set foot in a mall in years unless I have no choice. I cannot afford new clothes or expensive goodies. Like a lot of people, I'm buying at thrift shops and yard sales. I feel bad for all the people who worked in retail who are out of jobs, but welcome to the new America. Had not the corporate whores in Congress allowed big business to outsource and get tax cuts, and ignored the millions of illegal aliens, some of us might actually have jobs and money to burn.
Closed malls
I am 65 years old, and in my youth I loved the department stores. I couldn't afford to buy anything there, but I always hoped that some day I could.
Well, now I can pretty much afford anything I want, but the beautiful stores have either closed or been taken over by chains which homogenize them.
Most clothing (about 95%) is made outside the USA. This includes not only the cheap items, but many very expensive things. So many Americans in retail or the garment industry devoted their lives to their professions, and all of this is gone!