Is suburban retail in your town boarded up?

[Jesda]

I was thinking about this today because I'm looking for locations to open up mall kiosks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Plaza
This place closed last year and is being torn down. One would have thought that being situated next to two interstates, a populated area, and a major airport would have kept it going. One by one, the major anchor stores like Macy's and Office Depot packed up and left. We almost got an Ikea there but they wisely changed their minds.


http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/26 ... =r_science
I live within a couple miles of the longest outdoor strip mall in the country, but a quarter of the spaces are now empty. Worse, its built on a huge flood plain that was eight feet under water in 1993 so insurance is expensive.

Being situated in a "Transportation Development District" means I pay higher sales tax to shop there too. On top of that, the strip mall is located 5 minutes from the Chesterfield Mall, so these two major retail areas are competing directly with each other. The mall gets pretty packed on weekends with movie and restaurant traffic but the shop activity seems pretty dead.
http://chesterfield.patch.com/articles/ ... nty-center


So is this the end of suburban sprawl or just a result of the recession? Is it just a regional problem?
I know its trendy now for people my age to shun the burbs and run to the city where you have to ride the bus, smell the homeless, deal with pollution, and pay high rent for the so-called "atmosphere", but I wasn't a privileged kid who grew up in a mcmansion with Alan Thicke and Joanna Kerns as my parents. I can still appreciate low crime, friendly neighbors, and green lawns.


In contrast...
When I went down to Texas, it was like stepping back into 2000. Mall parking lots were packed. SUVs and trucks made up the majority of vehicles on the road. Residential and commercial areas continued to grow with new developments built even further from the city center.

[AZ89two4Tsx]

Can't say TOO much has changed here in the past 7 years I've lived here in Scottsdale. But I guess you could call us an exclusion.

Kansas City though, where I grew up, is a TOTALLY different story everytime I go back to visit. There's empty shopping centers all over the place. One area was once a whole shopping mall, with surrounding strip malls. Totally deserted and run down with just empty buildings left.

[Ace2cool]

Here in Lemoore, things seem like they've been doing well. Then again, I haven't been here very long, just 2 years.

Back home in Smyrna, TN though, things have picked up on a large scale. There's shopping centers everywhere, and a lot more activity.

[nissangirl74]

There are lots of abandoned buildings in the older parts of Phoenix and surrounding areas. Like Christian said though, Scottsdale is pretty much exempt and there isn't too much of it in Surprise. The closest mall in Glendale doesn't seem to have a lot of turnover in their stores. Wal-Mart and Target are always packed though. Don't see that changing anytime soon.