Originally Posted By Dabob2 Anybody remember Zody's? Johnny Carson once said they were like "K-mart without the warmth."
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Welost Marshall Field here and many still haven't gotten over that - they were sold to Macy's and Macy's paying the price big time here....expect them to be gone from Chicago area soon
Originally Posted By Ursula I loved Buffum's and Zody's and The Broadway and Robinson's and the Mac Co. Remember the May Company had the little half-sized credit cards? SO CHIC!!!!! We went to the Zody's clearance sale and my mom was in heaven. She made us try on EVERYTHING and if it remotely fit, she bought it. If it was too big, we bought it.
Originally Posted By gottaluvdavillains >>Wow--in my community, Mervyn's just built & moved into a new building.<< I think we're neighbors, jdub. I live about a mile from that location. I think that store opened in Sept., built brand new, and was to be the anchor for that little strip mall's rebuilding. Now it will be vacant? Just too bizarre.<< I was just down there... but didn't go into the new store.... I thought it was moved to build the movie theater there... Although that whole mall seems less busy these days - I am sure it would be hard to compete with stores like steve and barry's... My DH was really bummed when Rasputins closed too... I live in another town though and our mervyns already closed. The thing that was odd was the stuff was all marked down for clearance - but the clearance price was based off of the retail price - so much of the stuff was cheaper over in the dublin store than the clearance store.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "You've left out all the Big Box stores like Best Buy, Bed Bath Beyond, etc. that have been barfed up in every suburban strip mall across the country. We have no need for stores of this magnitude." I wasn't talking about the specialty stores, but instead the traditional retailer. Nonetheless, I still don't understand your comment without something to back it up.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << I wasn't talking about the specialty stores, but instead the traditional retailer. Nonetheless, I still don't understand your comment without something to back it up. >> OK. When I was young (I'm still young, but back when I was a kid -- 20 years ago), there were about 6 major stores in town for everyone to shop at. They were all urban department stores. Well, some of those stores are gone now. But they've been replaced by the downtown shopping mall with its anchor stores and specialty shops. There's another mall on the east side of town with a couple of anchor stores and shops (where there wasn't any shopping before). There's the suburban big box shopping complex south of town with about 3 major department/discount stores in a development that didn't exist before. The same suburban sprawl complex is on the west side of town. So, in the span of 20 years in a town where the population has declined, the number of stores has grown by at least 3 fold. There have been some local stores that have gone by the wayside, but they've still been replaced by more stores -- with far more square footage of merchandise -- than ever existed before. It's illogical that we need so much property dedicated to retail. And let's not even get into the shopping you can do online these days.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Gotta say- without the sales tax these places generate more cities and states would be in even a bigger world of hurt.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Gotta say- without the sales tax these places generate more cities and states would be in even a bigger world of hurt. >> It's deceiving. The cost of expanding city services and maintaining roads out into the suburbs along these big box store corridors costs cities more money than they collect in tax revenues. Cities were in better shape when their retailing was confined to relatively compact downtown or "main street" districts. There are additional revenues generated by all of this barfed up retailing, but it only serves to satisfy municipal needs to float bonds to pay for more development. Like residential real estate, it's pretty much a pyramid scheme that cannot go on forever. At some point, you have to actually pay for all of this sprawl and development that is unsustainable.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I don't know. Two cities I can think of- Carlsbad, CA and Cerritos, CA - are flush with cash because of their auto malls. Costa Mesa, CA is as well due to South Coast Plaza. Same with Newport Beach and Fashion Island. And that's off the top of my head.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I don't know. Two cities I can think of- Carlsbad, CA and Cerritos, CA - are flush with cash because of their auto malls. Costa Mesa, CA is as well due to South Coast Plaza. Same with Newport Beach and Fashion Island. And that's off the top of my head.
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 I know someone who has worked there since high school. So that would be about 34ish years. I feel badly for everyone who has lost their job through no fault of their own
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Two cities I can think of- Carlsbad, CA and Cerritos, CA - are flush with cash because of their auto malls. Costa Mesa, CA is as well due to South Coast Plaza. Same with Newport Beach and Fashion Island. >> I'm pretty familiar with those areas. With the exception of Cerritos, those are some relatively high income (and high property value) parts of So. California. I don't think the financial condition of those cities has anything to do with the malls.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Well, my sources are my wife, who works for a city here, and my brother, who is an attorney for Carlsbad. They say it's the malls.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<Anybody remember Zody's? Johnny Carson once said they were like "K-mart without the warmth.">> And Gemco?
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<I don't know. Two cities I can think of- Carlsbad, CA and Cerritos, CA - are flush with cash because of their auto malls.>> In Colorado sales tax revenue is at the County and city level, and auto sales tax is redirected back to your community where you live. Hence we don't have the big auto malls out here, since the town where the dealer is located doesn't get to keep the sales tax (unless you live there). Also, if you live outside city limits you only pay the county portion of the sales tax on a car puchase (which where we live is 3.6%).
Originally Posted By Tinkeroon The Mervyn's in our area is always busy. I had heard it was one of their top grossing stores. I go all the time. I hope it doesn't close. Are ALL suppose to close?
Originally Posted By barboy //Carlsbad, CA and Cerritos, CA - are flush with cash because of their auto malls.// ---then those two better savor it now because Porsches, Audis and Cadillacs, as well as other makes are sitting on the lots collecting dust these days
Originally Posted By Mort2 Re old SoCal department/discount stores. . . anybody remember White Front? sorry to hear about Mervyn's.
Originally Posted By jdub OMG, White Front! That, as a matter of fact, used to stand in approximately the same place where the new Mervyn's of which K2 & I type has just opened!
