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There is a large mostly abandoned shopping center near where I live.
Used to be a Bed Bath and beyond there and a few other things. There is still a GAP, McDonald’s, Buffalo Wild Wings… but the point is the huge lot is mostly unused now.
They built a huge Tesla dealership over the last few years nearby and it opened maybe about nine months ago.
Well I went into the shopping center lot earlier this week and nearly every space is now filled with Teslas in storage. Nobody wants the fucking Swaticars lol. Seeing a lot full of Musk’s unwanted shit just warmed my heart and I hope they sit there rotting forever.
Just wanted to share some rare happy news.
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Ping Tung
(2,409 posts)was the final nail in the coffin. I haven't been in a Mall since the pandemic
magicarpet
(18,265 posts)Fuck Tesla,...
Fuck Musk.
Warpy
(113,412 posts)What killed them off are the megamergers and bankruptcies that decreased the number of anchor stores, usually big department stores. Rents for other stores went up to compensate and foot traffic declined Purchasing power was also sliding down as prices rose. The axe finally came down in 2008 when the real estate bubble crash kept yuppies on the couch instead of out at the mall and doing some shopping.
I'm old so I watched malls kill off Main Street and naked greed kill off malls. I've missed them both.
forgotmylogin
(7,851 posts)Which is a great idea since it creates a reason for stores and services to move in. Some malls become restaurant complexes.
My childhood mall became sort of an indoor park and public square. Instead of enticing huge corporate retailers, after the mall-crash era they aimed local and smaller. There are still a few normal mall stores, but people flock in the morning for indoor power walking out of the weather under a roof, there are offices and small business spaces, a two story public library, a Walgreens and a small urgent care facility, a huge post office and UPS shipping and delivery storefront, a pay-by-the-hour public computer facility, several little cafes and coffee shops and two big sit-down restaurants, some government offices with a vehicle titling/licensing/ID renewal location, and they rent flexible display carts in the open spaces to small artisans and craftspeople to display and sell wares. There's a playground area with a padded floor, and also a little open stage (converted from a water fountain/pond) and school choirs and dance groups and small bands will perform shows there. It's a pleasant place to hang out and stroll around and it serves a lot of public-use necessity without feeling like just a crush of retail locations.
Hekate
(97,744 posts)
ShazzieB
(20,694 posts)I kind of love the idea of living in a mall! Just being able to take long walks for exercise year around without having to go outside when the weather's lousy would be a huge perk. The lack of a stove was the only major turnoff for me.
I have such fond memories of trips to the mall when my daughter was growing up. It was a great place for a kid with ADHD to run off all that excess energy when the weather made outside activities problematic (yes, weather is a recurring theme here, lol), and there were always lots of interesting things to look at and places to grab a bite a bite to eat. And of course we did buy stuff. Mostly things we needed like clothes, or small, inexpensive fun items. But it was at least as much about having a good time and getting some exercise as it was about shopping. Seeing malls die has made me sad, but it's encouraging to see at least parts of some of them being put to new uses.
CTyankee
(66,206 posts)You don't have to wander around in mall store after mall store looking for what you want. You got it all on your computer. Frankly, afaic I can practically get along fine just with Amazon. It scares me a little bit...
Warpy
(113,412 posts)because Sears & Roebuck, the in home, convenience shopping experience of its day witho only slightly longer delivery times and you could even order a whole kit house from them, didn't kill off the shopping district in small towns across the country. It took the Great Depression for that and it was only temporary, business starting to reopen as the New Deal took effect.
The dead mall near me was an older and smaller mall that always stayed fully occupied and had a better food court than the bigger malls until three of foor department stores disappeared, one to merger and the other two to bankruptcy. That meant less foot traffic and smaller stores started to go under. As occupancy rates fell, a cascade seemed to happen and all the others fled.
I've noticed the same thing happening at the bigger malls, nearly full occupancy of small retail spaces not compensating for the loss of even one of several anchor stores.
CTyankee
(66,206 posts)could never offer. With actual stores at malls you had to get in your car and drive there and find a parking place and shop during the hours that may or may not be convenient for you. Also, my guess is that the stores had overhead costs that also cut into their profits in a big way.
But if malls were potentially so great, why didn't they last?
IbogaProject
(4,433 posts)They had onerous lease terms, requiring stores to be open every hour the mall was open and only those hours. They were a step down from local businesses open the hours that the individual businesses wanted. The mall was based more on corporate stores like Foot Locker and Kinney Shoes and large Department Stores. As the economy has bifurcated there isn't enough business for that model anymore. The whole private equity model swoops in like a loan shark. While Private Equity is legal they have unfair advantages like the ability to deffer taxes on their investment gains, they also are allowed to borrow more against stocks than a retail investor. That tax break was intended to make it easier for small startup ventures to get funded but it was immediately turned into support for speculators and other destructive business practices. This problem dates to the Reagan and Bush administrations.
IronLionZion
(48,889 posts)in some places they have been converted into apartments, megachurches, indoor sports like pickleball, escape rooms, and so on. In some areas they might do well to become parks or green recreational areas if there's nothing else around.
hatrack
(62,515 posts)
NJCher
(40,121 posts)I could while away a few hours there. There is a link to all the dead retail chains--links to wikipedia's article on it.
Also, made me think of Caldor! Caldor!?!
I have to send this to my shopping maven friend in FL.
Jilly_in_VA
(11,960 posts)has been razed and is now an Amazon distribution center. Another one (in the town where I used to live) is a combination of medical offices, physical therapy center, and extension classrooms for a university 35 miles down the road.
AllaN01Bear
(25,182 posts)i saw on you tube where the owner of a mall that had the parking spaces in the middle and the stores on the parimeter. the owne closed the space , put in high rise lo income apartment blocks , created green space . etc the stores were i nterspersed throught the grounds and oar the apartments @ ground level. the parking was done in parkijng structures.
pansypoo53219
(22,239 posts)sadly i didn't deiscover estate sales til round 1999. now that was fun. especially depression babies. i have such cool stuff. + i used an early bar tool today.
ToxMarz
(2,414 posts)in a shopiping mall looking like all the shoppers drove "Telser's" rather than shunned at the dealership.
getagrip_already
(17,725 posts)Typically these are anchored by warehouse stores like bj's, building centers like lowes, sporting goods stores, and super popular markets (wegmens for one).
The smaller stores are full service restaurants, ups stores, cell phone stores, etc.
They are fully occupied and new stores keep moving in.
Could they fail? Sure, but it is less noticeable than at an indoor mall. People come for point shopping, and move their cars to go mre places than one rather than walk.
This is in Mass, so nice weather is not a draw.
AllaN01Bear
(25,182 posts)
CaptainTruth
(7,649 posts)...he seems to always talk about "units shipped." For example he'll say that in the first quarter they "shipped" a certain number of cybertrucks.
What he doesn't say is that the majority of them are sitting on dealer lots, unsold.
Incidentally, your experience at the mall is similar to the situation at our local Tesla dealership. Over the last several months their lot has filled to capacity & now the grassy field behind the dealership is parked full of vehicles. It looks like Tesla could stop manufacturing today & have enough inventory for 1-2 years.
I really don't see how Musk thinks he can prop up the house of cards, it's already fallen.
cab67
(3,356 posts)...Teslas are very common here.
Know what else is common? I'm not kidding about this - Teslas with bumper stickers that say, "Love the Car, Hate the CEO."
I'd rather not drive a car that requires a visible disclaimer.
twodogsbarking
(13,722 posts)NJCher
(40,121 posts)I was doing a garden tour this a.m. and stayed right here in my county--actually 2-3 towns only--and was struck by how many Teslas this idiot sold in this area. It actually is amazing how many he sold. Mostly charcoal and white ones, but I did see a number other colors, like maroon and a blue one. I saw no Cybertrucks today but one parked next to me yesterday.
At one garden center a woman pulled into the space next to me and I saw she had put a sticker with a slash mark through the name. Then I started looking at other Teslas on the road and there were a fair number with that sticker.
Put "No Elon" sticker into a search engine for a visual search. The market for this stickers must be huge. There are skazillions of them.
He was a real fool to alienate this area. They were buying his cars. Now? Nuttin'
aggiesal
(10,033 posts)and that empty space indoors, should house homeless people, especially during the hot & cold periods in the hot & cold climate areas.
There are plenty of abandoned commercial strip malls & big malls that are empty.
Offer the property owners a small rental fee, better to receive something then to receive nothing, to house those homeless.
************************************************************************
I see someone before me was thinking the same way with Mall apartments.
Shipwack
(2,674 posts)It’s difficult to retrofit the plumbing needed for additional bathrooms, and new showers, kitchens, etc. Same thing, but to a lesser extent for electrical wiring. Even though new wiring is easier to install than new plumbing, you’re going to encounter additional costs for breaker boxes and such.
Similar problems are encountered when you look at converting empty office towers in downtown areas, but even more so.
At least , this is what I have read, and it makes sense to me. However , I’m not a construction worker or architect, so perhaps people are making excuses to avoid doing things.
aggiesal
(10,033 posts)The government entity could foot the bill and use the property for say 5 years, then the owner can sell or rent the units afterwards.
Or they can buy the property and then retrofit for permanent use by homeless.
To me the homeless using it, should be allowed to live there until they are back on their feet, then the next homeless takes over.
https://democraticunderground.com/100220338389#post17
Response to Takket (Original post)
NJCher This message was self-deleted by its author.
Javaman
(63,855 posts)
MichMan
(15,167 posts)
PJMcK
(23,638 posts)Musk doesn't seem that smart to me. He just has a lot of money. Simply put, he clearly didn't learn Rick Wilson's dictum:
EVERYTHING TRUMP TOUCHES DIES.
Musk has nearly completely trashed his Tesla brand. A great many of the people who bought the EVs wanted to protect the planet by using a low carbon vehicle. (Of course, they forget that the electricity to charge their batteries has to come from somewhere like carbon-based generators.) The vehicles are reasonably elegant and distinctive and even though they're somewhat on the high end cost of automobiles, they're not unreasonable.
My impression, as many others have noted, is that Tesla's customers were somewhat left-of-center. In contrast, the MAGA-bros like to drive their F-250s "burning coal," as the say. However, that same original customer base is probably not too happy with Musk's embrace of Trump and his fascist policies. Notably, Tesla sales have cratered.
Big surprise. As I wrote, Musk doesn't seem that smart. His pursuit of money has diminished the appeal of the Tesla brand and it's probably over. The only exception are the fools who want a CyberTruck, which is destined to go down in history with the Edsel.
The idea that Musk is a great businessman is as much bullshit as the idea that Trump is a genius and a brilliant executive.
I get that he might be trying to replace his Tesla business with the SpaceX "Golden (Shower) Dome" project which will total in the mega-billions.
He's still not that smart. And he is as much an idiot as is Trump.
ananda
(31,800 posts)well, it is in a way, for Musk's stupid cars.
D_Master81
(2,070 posts)I’m sure hearing that no one is buying them anymore will send the stock price soaring