There is a large mostly abandoned shopping center near where I live.

[Warpy]

34. Malls didn't last because they lost their big anchor stores

Last edited Sat May 24, 2025, 12:06 AM - Edit history (1)

they had to raise rents on everybody else, and everybody else passed the costs on to a population facing the declining purchasing power of the wages they were paid. 2008 just put the tin lid on it.

ETA: The Sears catalog was pretty damned dazzling for its day, from skin-out fashion that promised to be the latest thing to farmwear to tools to tractor attachments to whole houses and you didn't have to hitch up a wagon or crank the old Ford to get to town to find a place to part and not find a tenth of what was in that catalog. All you had to do was fill out the form and either write a check or get a money order the next time you went to the bank to deposit some money and wait for whatever your ordered to arrive in the mail box or come in on a flatbed truck or rail car. Yes, it was the Amazon of its day and it didn't kill retail in a single town.