Empty shopping malls.

[Fcseven]

I guess this is freewheeling enough and I hope it's not too offtopic from the paranormal.If it is mods are welcome to lock it.

Anyways,after listening to some conspiracy podcasts a few week back someone on some show had mentioned that shopping malls would be used as makeshift tent cities by the end of 2009.At first I just laughed this off as nonsense and just some paranoid individual with too much time on his hands.

I decided to do a little research because it was at the back of my mind and bugging me.The first thing I did was observe the closest mall to me in Madison Wisconsin.While not every shop is closed there is definitely ALOT of closed stores (East town mall).This was a little bit of a shock to me because I had not really been to that mall myself since the early 2000s and a lot in the 90s when i was younger.Back then it was packed with people and there were zero empty stores.

The second thing I decided to do was google "empty malls" and was in for a shock.There are tons and tons of websites with pictures of huge malls that are open but with absolutely no people shopping there.There were also links to YouTube videos of people walking though malls that looked like ghost towns.

I guess I'm a little worried that the economy is getting so incredibly bad that the beautiful and magnificent malls I remember from my youth are in a state of decay and the "nut" from that podcast may just be correct.There could be numerous other factors involved of course,but being the paranoid person I am I'm a tad anxious at this point to say the least.My brother just lost his job from a place last week that seemed very solid just a few months ago.I can't help but to wonder if soon I will be living in some tent in the middle of some deserted shopping mall.

Anyways,no real point to this thread except to say I'm scared fuckless about the state of the economy and I may be seeing some of you all at a shopping mall soon.In a tent next to you.

 

[skunkape]

There are nearly 19 million vacant homes in the U.S. Why not utilize those? Tent cities aren't all that bad as long the asshole authorities don't bulldoze it away like they do here in Austin.
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[Ezechiel]

Interesting subject !

Here's a whole site about them
http://www.deadmalls.com/

"In hard times, empty stores fascinate and fuel mournful tributes."


Columbia University's Columbia News Service reports on the long existing and ever increasing downfall of the suburban retail environment and how it could become even more widespread with the current hard economic times.

"A skinny young minister in black pants and a golf shirt paces around a riser in the middle of a cavernous room as he preaches to the thousands of people sitting all around him on a Sunday morning.
“Wisdom in the Scriptures is a female. Figure that out and your marriage will be special,” pastor Rob Bell tells the congregation, drawing loud laughter.
The video on YouTube shows the members of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Mich., gathering for worship. But unlike congregants in most churches, they are not arranged in pews facing an ornate altar. Instead, they sit in simple plastic chairs in an enormous windowless room. The only architectural features are a few pillars and rows of metal ceiling joists. Until the late 1990s, when it closed, this was the Grand Village Mall.
Mars Hill illustrates one use for the growing number of ailing malls across the country. But while some malls are resurrected in unexpected ways, many aren’t as fortunate. As the economy continues to tumble, the fate of all those empty stores has fueled a cadre of watchers devoted to the topic."

 

[skunkape]

Here's an article about the world's largest and emptiest mall.

Mall of misfortune - The National Newspaper
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[soundbarrier]

well, it's 8 months later and the malls were full this holiday season - americans can't help themselves - they have to spend - just like the government - whether they have it or not

 

[Red]

The economy is not the only issue that comes to play with empty malls. When we moved here our mall was doing pretty well. About 5 years ago, there was a huge mall built in a western suburb and it has severely damaged the retail economy on our side of town. Now our mall is practically empty and it was struggling before the economy tanked.

 

[soundbarrier]

yes, you are absolutely right - people tend to shop at the newest/greatest/latest. Same thing happened in My area
But who posted 19m empty homes ? Is this correct ?? unreal

 

[EQ42]

When I was a kid the mall was so freakin' cool to go to. And it had this funky 70s modern architecture- and a ice skating rink, video arcade, movie theater, etc. Anyway, stores started closing and they eventually bulldozed it and put up a Super WalMart. Such a bummer- I have so many good memories of that place. I saw a video of it on YouTube before it was torn down. Some kids had snuck in. Really weird seeing something that I remember as being so full of life empty and run down.

 

[Kevin Daly]

I don't hold with using shopping malls as tent cities - it'll create too many complications when I'm using a mall to make my desperate last stand in the forthcoming zombie apocalypse.

 

[aNorthernSoul]

Yet wireless devices and video game sales remained fairly consistent throughout 2009. I think that says a lot about our priorities.

PS... You know... the closing of shopping malls could also indicate the boom of department stores and online shopping more than anything else.

 

[truthseeker]

I hate shopping malls