The Death of the American Shopping Mall

[nayjevin]

Bad news, Cinema is dying.

There is a "Middle Class" in movies just as there is with a population. The number of "Middle Class" movies, or the ones that get 25 -30 million to produce has dropped by something like 70%. They used to represent the bulk of movies distributed, but now its fallen so low that the half million dollar budget ones are just as frequent. So now all you get is either the Blockbusters, or Syfy channel movie garbage. Just take a peek at how long theaters are holding on to movies for should be an indication. I'll link when I find that story again.

It may take time for the market to catch up, but there are mitigating factors which should allow the correction at a better than worst-case-scenario pace. For instance, CGI cost is plummeting. Tools are getting easier to use, plugins available only increases. Additionally, the bubble in acting salaries has plenty of room to pop. There will be great talent capable and willing to do the work for far less money. The result will be the same quality for less money.

The real problem, the way I see it, is that the average individual's entertainment budget is dwindling. That people must spend more time working to provide, as a result of inflation and squandering wealth production and people-hours in unwinnable wars, and therefore have less to spend on entertainment (inspiration seeking), is a reflection of the health of the society.

 

[MelissaWV]

Bad news, Cinema is dying.

There is a "Middle Class" in movies just as there is with a population. The number of "Middle Class" movies, or the ones that get 25 -30 million to produce has dropped by something like 70%. They used to represent the bulk of movies distributed, but now its fallen so low that the half million dollar budget ones are just as frequent. So now all you get is either the Blockbusters, or Syfy channel movie garbage. Just take a peek at how long theaters are holding on to movies for should be an indication. I'll link when I find that story again.

Correct, but the middle class of movies are becoming limited cable/Netflix series instead. The low-budget movies are also gambling on unknown actors a lot of the time to avoid bloating their bottom line. Sometimes that makes them SyFy garbage. Sometimes it makes them profitable.

 

[nobody's_hero]

I took a trip recently to the 'mega mall' in the town I grew up in. Man, so much had changed. They tore down half of the mall, supposedly half of it was built on top of a water table or something, and they were worried about sink-hole potential. Most of the large stores are still there. JC Penny's, Macy's, I think Sears. The small stores are mostly gone and many of the ones that were closed have actually been sealed off, as in, dry-walled over. So you have to walk about 500 feet or so before you get to the next store. It's all indoors, too, so it's a bit like walking along a subway tunnel.

The place is just dead. Parking lot is full of potholes. But it's the only place within a hundred miles I know of with escalators. It was worth the trip just to ride on one. I was always fascinated by those as a child.

Anyway, didn't mean to go get all nostalgic.

 

[angelatc]

“Local governments had never dealt with this sort of development and were basically bamboozled [by developers],” Underhill says of the mall planning process. “In contrast to Europe, where shopping malls are much more a product of public-private negotiation and funding, here in the US most were built under what I call ‘cowboy conditions’.”

Always with the liberal bullshit.

 

[Hyperion]

The irony of the online sales tax is that it will hurt small retailers much more than the big stores.

 

[angelatc]

The irony of the online sales tax is that it will hurt small retailers much more than the big stores.

To them, that's a feature, not a bug.

 

[mad cow]

“Local governments had never dealt with this sort of development and were basically bamboozled [by developers],” Underhill says of the mall planning process. “In contrast to Europe, where shopping malls are much more a product of public-private negotiation and funding, here in the US most were built under what I call ‘cowboy conditions’.”

I believe Benito Mussolini had a word for that.

 

[amy31416]

I'm pretty sure it's been over five years since I've been to a mall. Maybe longer. I've always hated them, but have considered going to one because of the kid and various kid activities. I think she'd like it if there were some festive Christmas stuff going on.

 

[angelatc]

I'm pretty sure it's been over five years since I've been to a mall. Maybe longer. I've always hated them, but have considered going to one because of the kid and various kid activities. I think she'd like it if there were some festive Christmas stuff going on.

Ha ha! Now that you mention it, I don't know if my kids went to any malls until they went with their friends. I remember going when my first was a newborn, and once other time to kill time when we were combining a family trip with husband's job interview....but they were so young I doubt they even remember.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Their prices have skyrocketed, their portions have shrunk, and a lot of their food is just frozen microwaved.

I used to enjoy eating at Olive Garden...

It's called progress...

 

[nayjevin]

It's called progress...

Need to make progress on getting consumers to think about where they put their money, spend responsibly, and to see spending money for the ethically relevant action that it is.

 

[Anti Federalist]

It may take time for the market to catch up, but there are mitigating factors which should allow the correction at a better than worst-case-scenario pace. For instance, CGI cost is plummeting. Tools are getting easier to use, plugins available only increases. Additionally, the bubble in acting salaries has plenty of room to pop. There will be great talent capable and willing to do the work for far less money. The result will be the same quality for less money.

That explains why every new "action" movie I see, looks like nothing more than a poorly rendered video game, lasting two hours.

The real problem, the way I see it, is that the average individual's entertainment budget is dwindling. That people must spend more time working to provide, as a result of inflation and squandering wealth production and people-hours in unwinnable wars, and therefore have less to spend on entertainment (inspiration seeking), is a reflection of the health of the society.

I would be happy if this was the case...kick one of the sides out of the compliance triangle (Fed, Entertained, Exercise Petty Power) and things might actually change.

The fact of the matter is we are "entertained" to the point of numbness.

There has never been so much "entertainment" at any time before in human history.

Which means it loses value.

Thus: Ass - The Oscar Winning New Movie!

 

[amy31416]

It's called progress...

Are we really lamenting the demise of Olive Garden here? Matt can go stuff his face at CiCi's buffet if he's so sad.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

A hundred years ago 90% of the population lived on farms. Now 1% does.

With the offshoring of our industrial base, we were left with service jobs. Those would always be there.
But if you get a X-Ray interpreted, the doc doing it is probably in India.
If you go to a store, at least some of the checkouts are self serve and cashier and bagger jobs were lost.
some stores require a deposit to unlock a shopping cart, so people bring them back to get their quarter back.

Stossols show this week is about robotics and how jobs are going extinct. Now the implications of that on the economy is interesting...

-t

 

[Matt Collins]

Thus: Ass - The Oscar Winning New Movie!

Great film... I watched all 90 minutes of it

 

[PRB]

A hundred years ago 90% of the population lived on farms. Now 1% does.

More government, less people living on farms, COINCIDENCE?

With the offshoring of our industrial base, we were left with service jobs. Those would always be there.

Uh, no. Service jobs are only necessary because quality of products and services have not been perfects and/or automated, there might always been SOME jobs in service, but as long as it's repetitive and automatable, they'll shrink like any other jobs.

But if you get a X-Ray interpreted, the doc doing it is probably in India.

Assuming it can't be by a computer.

If you go to a store, at least some of the checkouts are self serve and cashier and bagger jobs were lost.
some stores require a deposit to unlock a shopping cart, so people bring them back to get their quarter back.

That's pointless now, since carts are designed to be hard to steal, the wheels lock when you try to leave the lot. Baggers and cashiers are becoming less necessary, higher wages won't help them get the jobs back.

Stossols show this week is about robotics and how jobs are going extinct. Now the implications of that on the economy is interesting...

-t

People only complain about job loss when they can be mad at the person who took their job, or they'll pretend to care about the person who took their job being exploited. Those complaints will disappear when it's a robot or computer taking his job, he'll now have to explain why he's worth $15 an hour when a computer costs pennies an hour, does not need bathroom breaks or 8 hour sleeps.

 

[PRB]

Bad news, Cinema is dying.

Theatres are dying, but not necessarily the movie making industry per se. But if they continue to make remakes, while complaining about piracy, yeah, they'll die much faster.

There is a "Middle Class" in movies just as there is with a population. The number of "Middle Class" movies, or the ones that get 25 -30 million to produce has dropped by something like 70%. They used to represent the bulk of movies distributed, but now its fallen so low that the half million dollar budget ones are just as frequent. So now all you get is either the Blockbusters, or Syfy channel movie garbage.

Remember when just 10 years ago, a person who had $1-5K and can make a DVD was considered a semi-pro? Now any high school kid can upload HD to Youtube. So despite a lot of syfy garbage, there's much much worse content. Think of how many hundreds of conspiracy films have been made and made available just the past 8 years.

Just take a peek at how long theaters are holding on to movies for should be an indication. I'll link when I find that story again.

I can't even catch up with how quickly movies go from advertising they'll be in theatres, to advertising they'll be released for home video. Cable companies now try very hard to coordinate showing part 1 movies right during part 2 is in theatre, just to make sure less people use "I havent seen part 1 yet, can't see part 2 in theatre" excuse.

 

[Occam's Banana]

Frederic Bastiat is relevant here.

Frédéric Bastiat is relevant everywhere.

 

[MRK]

I never understood shopping malls. There was never anything there I wanted to buy outside of a random bookstore. Most of the time we would go when visiting relatives. All that would happen is that the women would (sometimes) buy some clothes.

Usually I just hung around the bookstores while they were off doing that. I pretty much never bought anything. Oh, except for during Christmas, I'd do a quick lap to find stuff. Eventually I moved onto the big box stores for that as it was even faster and somehow had more variety.

In retrospect the $99 polos whose prices would be marked off to $69 were outrageous, epsecially for the early noughties. The actual wholesale price of those is much lower.

If you're in the retail business and you want to buy generic or customized clothing at the lowest possible commoditized and uniquely tax-exempt prices, send me a PM. I live where the factories are and can work something out.

 

[2young2vote]

Maybe if they didn't charge $4000 per month in rent the stores could afford to have locations there. I much prefer market style shopping centers. You see alot more ma and pa places and you can find so many unique products and foods.