Anyone who thinks J.C. Penney, Sears, Best Buy, or Radio Shack just need to make a few tweaks and everything will return to normal probably believed Bernanke in 2005 when he said the housing market was not a bubble. Retail CEOs and their humungous egos refuse to acknowledge that their business concept is dying. Building new stores in this economy is like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. All of these bricks and mortar retailers who are now going full speed into on-line retailing are cannibalizing their existing mall based stores. These are not incremental sales.
As gas prices shockingly rise again in 2013 and real wages shockingly decline again and two million more people shockingly leave the work force, and the MSM idiots conclude that the economy shockingly went back into recession, consumers will shockingly spend less money in the dying bricks and mortar retailers. Online sales will probably continue to grow, just as it has for the last two decades.
Retail CEOs will be forced to acknowledge that their thousands of physical stores are growing obsolete and dragging them towards bankruptcy. The announced “restructurings” will result in thousands more vacant hulking shells in more dying malls. It already looks like SPACE AVAILABLE is the hottest retailer in America. Mall developers will be defaulting on their loans, but the Wall Street banks will just “restructure” the loans so they don’t have to write them off. Who needs principal and interest payments when you have accountants and 0% loans from the Fed?
The next time you see a Wall Street shyster recommending Sears stock and talking about the brilliance of Eddie Lampert (aka the next Warren Buffett), remember this chart. Lampert has run this joke of a retailer into the ground. The Wall Street scum touted Sears as an asset play, with thousands of valuable real estate locations. Hysterical. Who exactly is Lampert going to sell these mall locations to? Best Buy? JC Penney? Target?
The demise of bricks and mortar retailers will be a slow motion train wreck. It already started in 2008 and will pick up steam in 2013.
Kind of ironic that Sears started out as the original ‘internet’ shopping experience with their catalogue sales concept. People far from the big city downtown could peruse merchandise from the comfort of their home and have it delivered to them. It worked too as Sears, like Amazon today, only needed warehouses and suppliers to contract with.
A century later and that might be the model Sears should return to.
“All of these bricks and mortar retailers who are now going full speed into on-line retailing are cannibalizing their existing mall based stores.”
If I could do internet restaurant eating I probably wouldn’t leave the house anymore.
Another fad that will die. Internet means you have money to spend on the connection, PC and electric. As the decent continues, more and more will NOT have those luxuries. They will also not have the ‘need’ to buy so much of the junk sold there. After all, take any department store, remove all the unnecessary stuff and the necessities could fit in a school class room. Ditto any other store in America. The grocery store I went to as a kid was no more than 40′ wide and 120′ deep or the size of the produce isles in today’s mufti-acre junk food warehouse. So will we contract back down to that size in the near future and there will be millions more who cannot afford the internet. Buy local.
As it gets more expensive to ship things in “micro” amounts, you will see the online fad go back to being less popular.
It will never die, but it will decline.
DaveL,
You can now do “restaurant eating” on the internet:
http://www.grubhub.com
http://www.seamless.com
What’s bizarre is that many retailers don’t carry stock in their brick and mortar stores anymore; only online. I recently wanted to get a small gadget to mix protien shakes and couldn’t get it at Target, Walmart, or anyplace else-had to order it online from Target. Same for clothing-saw the item in a catalog, went to the store hoping to try it on for fit, item not carried in the store. They have a ‘conceirge desk’ where someone can order what you want that’s not in the store and have it shipped to your home. Unbelievable.
A really exemplary article on undermining the centralized oligopolies/monopolies by decentralizing power:
My son pointed out that this author failed to address the need for an alternative currency, but this was the first time I’ve read anything by this author. Maybe he needs to be educated on the financial front, however it seems he’s got a pretty good grasp of the overall picture (but yeah… a major oversight).
“Global Research” is one of my favorite websites for understanding the criminality of the central planners though they do have some writers there who are bona-fide socialists/Bolsheviks, but you can sniff them out quickly. For the most part, it remains one of the best websites for understanding the sinister objectives of the “globalists,” and I wish I had a ton of money to donate to them and their valiant efforts.
I also read EVERYTHING posted there by William Engdahl (author of “Seeds of Destruction” and other books) the foremost expert on the evil that is Monsanto and from former Assistant Treasury Secretary under Reagan, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts – like Admin, another remarkable patriot and truthteller.
Efforts are underway by the cowardly economic tapeworms and Leviathan to smuggle in taxation on internet purchases through the backdoor (“defense” authorization spending bill) what they cannot achieve through the frontdoor – exposure by the alternative media of the principal players:
“This may be the last Christmas of online shopping without paying sales tax.
A proposed online sales tax has been offered as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, much to the ire of opponents.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, a group that opposes this move, says that an online sales tax will burden small businesses, ‘some of the most promising candidates for future economic growth.'”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/04/online-sales-tax-to-be-added-to-defense-authorization-bill/#ixzz2FF6u2kdF
Downsizing to transportable mini-houses growing in popularity:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2207650/Tiny-houses-allow-owners-nature.html
When Amazon threw in the towel it was all over. They collect sales tax on every transaction now. That is a 6% to 9% price increase for all purchasers.
I predict that the last brick and mortar store chains standing will be the shoe stores. Why? Women.
Most women have a strong “shoe gene.” They love to shop for shoes. Stare lovingly at shoes. Gently fondle and stroke shoes. Try on different shoes. See how well a shoe fits her. Select a particular shoe as her favorite. And collect vast quantities of shoes.
That’s my stock tip of the day.
DaveL – I order delivery restaurant food on the internet often. I place my order on line and the food shows up at the door within an hour.
SSS: I must be one of the biggest oddballs on earth- I hate having to buy new shoes! UGH! I’d rather have a Ruger.
SSS,
You’re probably right, but since I have never been one to run with the herd, I also buy shoes online.
Most recently, 2 pr of shoes and a pair of slippers from amazon!!!
I saved $20 on the shoes and got free shipping. I also burned no gas, didn’t spend money on a drink, snack or lunch. And while I was shopping, I was multi-tasking like crazy at home. It’s much better use of my time than going to the mall. Oh…and I don’t come home with a migraine.
Sweet!!!
I have learned to never place an online order without first searching for promo codes.
You can almost always save at least 10% or get free shipping.
The most recent code I found was “oops”. Seriously. I was certain it was a joke but tried it anyway.
It worked!!! $10 off my order of nutritional supplements.
Easy peasy.
I have had a lot of success with this site:
http://www.retailmenot.com/
Shoes are the one thing I will NOT buy online, at least not if they don’t come in metric sizes.
It’s a sign of increasing American backwardness that we still use the old, imprecise “English” sizes.
If I buy metric, I buy a size 39 because my foot is 39 centimeters long. Not 38.5 or 39.5. That equates to a ladies size 8 but I have never been able to take less than an 8.5, often a 9… or whatever fits. I have had nothing but misfitted shoes buying by mail or online, and it’s a bitch to ship the shoes back and get a refund.
Um, guys, have any of you been to Sears.com lately? After Ebay and Amazon, their marketplace is getting to be quite the extensive collection of independent retailers. They are making major strides back towards being a major mail order company, and unlike Ebay and Amazon, you can have items they carry shipped to your local Sears store for free. Sure, they’re cannibalizing their own sales but they’re taking others too, so I wouldn’t count them out yet.
Sears is dead retailer walking. Eddie Lampert has proven to be a horrible CEO. Sales continue to plummet, as they have for the last 10 straight years.
@Administrator – Don’t worry about Eddie, I’m sure he’ll get his several hundred million dollar golden parachute when the company goes under, and promptly be offered another job.
Once a CEO, always a CEO.