Casualties of the Economy

[elfs]

Six months ago

Yesterday

Six months ago, a former drug store that had stood closed and shuttered for the year prior re-opened as an Office Depot. Last night, as I drove home from a quick trip into the city, I passed by the store and saw big signs that read "20%-40% Off!" and "Store Closing!" and "All Inventory Must Go!"

There is still material scattered about the store left over from the opening. Excuse me, the "Grand Opening!" I want to find a sense of irony in that, but people are losing their jobs, and I can't help but think that for them life must suck right now. I asked one of the people cleaning up a corner where someone had scattered dry erase markers, "Didn't you guys just open?"

"Just recently, yeah." He sounded depressed. I don't blame him.

---

Another casulaty: Koma Bean

Another casualty of our rapidly failing economy: Koma Bean, a vegetarian Asian food stand at the new section of Southcenter Mall, was gone when I went to the mall yesterday, leaving only an empty kiosk, the menu still up but the cooking aisle empty. I'd never eaten there, but I did see folks at the register all the time. Sad, but inevitable. I wonder when we're going to start seeing store shutter down inside the mall.

The United States currently has 20.2 square feet of retail space per person. Compare that to Sweden with 3.3 square feet, or the UK 2.5, France with 2.3, and Italy with 1.1, all countries with economies doing better than our own.

I wonder what the numbers will look like when the bloodbath is over.

Comments

[tbclone47.livejournal.com]

Is it just that Office Depot, or are all of them closing?

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Apparently just this one.

So far.

[maellenkleth]

by way of comparison, 12.5 square feet per capita in Canada, of which 2 square feet is branches of American chain stores.

[codeamazon.livejournal.com]

When you consider the cost of city and urban land here, and then you consider how much easier shopping online has become...

...there are cultural re-adjustments coming. Some of this economic turn is a response to an increasingly virtual world.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

Simple proof of that is how so many companies have reported lousy sales, yet Amazon has had their best Xmas ever...

where did you find this stat?

[joeypimping.livejournal.com]

where did you find this stat regarding the square footage per person?

Re: where did you find this stat?

[resonant.livejournal.com]

National Research Bureau's Shopping Center Census

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/10/13/350907/index.htm

Note that this is an AVERAGE - Denver, for example, has 52.2 square feet of retail space per capita.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

I've never understood why so much space is devoted to purely retail uses. I'm looking towards the coming collapse with both dread and awe.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Another scary statistic is the percentage of space in urban areas devoted to cars. Roadways and parking lots take up 40% or more of most North American cities, and in some areas more space is devoted to getting TO places than is devoted to BEING a place to go to.

Wish I knew of a good solution.

[tagryn]

Economies doing better than our own, by what metric?

Italy is in bad shape, and the Woolworths chain of stores went out of business in the UK last week, amid widespread economic trouble.

[halloranelder.livejournal.com]

Those retail square feet figures are very telling. The US has really gone over the top with the consumer society.

I wonder what Australia's figures are?

[kingfox.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't use square footage as a yardstick (har), considering the difference in space/size culture between the US and Europe. Compare size of housing, size of just about everything between them, and you'll get a stark contrast. Sure, it's not going to be off by such a large order, but I'd rather see a comparison between number of retail employees, stock on shelf per population, etc. That would be a bit more telling, I think.