So I ran into Apu just now......

[Brian37]

Ok, no I did not, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express....

In all seriousness, I did run into a guy from India at the strip mall for sale while waiting for my Chinese food. I noticed him going from empty unit to empty unit looking in them. Wasn't sure if he was looking to rent, turned out he was looking to buy the entire mall.

So we got to talking, I noticed his accent and asked him where he was from, India as you already know. I took a risk knowing that lots of business owners side with the GOP in mentioning that I FUCKING HATE 45, and this guy AGREED WITH ME. I LOVE THIS GUY......

I basically told him that all but 4 of the units had been empty for the past 8 years including the middle section which used to be a Lowes grocery store. I told him if he chose to buy it, he should have damned good leverage knowing how long it has sat empty, and that I would root for his successful buy if he could end up filling all the units.

It would give me tons of satisfaction to have a sane immigrant business man, buy that place and prove the asshole GOP and 45 how full of shit they really are.

This guy had a great sense of humor, and hated 45 and the GOP. THAT is a business owner I could support.

[Minimalist]

Ultimately, its a bad investment.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc...17/522384/

What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?

In the middle of an economic recovery, hundreds of shops and malls are shuttering. The reasons why go far beyond Amazon.

[Brian37]

Ultimately, its a bad investment.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc...17/522384/

What in the World Is Causing the Retail Meltdown of 2017?

In the middle of an economic recovery, hundreds of shops and malls are shuttering. The reasons why go far beyond Amazon.

I said strip mall not huge mall. 

It is a straight line 12 unit lot, very common for mostly mom and pop shops. Online buying isn't going to kill all mom and pop shop stores, which constitute the bulk of businesses that rent units like that.

I also disagree for the fact that just down the road less than two miles there is another multi unit shopping center with a anchor Food Lion, and it is set up in much the same way, with mostly mom and pop shops and it is constantly full, and has been in the same time I have lived where I have lived.

Amazon is more of a threat to box stores than mom and pop shops. 

It is like saying Uber is a threat to cab companies. Yes and no. I hate Uber because they undermine workers wages, sure. But they will not get rid of the competition completely. 

I think it is a myth that all brick and mortar stores are going to be a thing of the past. I'd only say that if you don't adjust to changing technology sure, you wont survive. 

Humans like going out and looking around. I don't think the internet will completely destroy our shopping exploration in any physical sense.

Two of the remaining businesses are food joints and you cant outsource that online, you can advertise online sure, and you can advertise delivery. One is a local cleaning service, which again, you can advertise online but can order from overseas. The other is a tanning salon and again, sure you could order their products online, but if you want a tan, just like going out to eat, you have to leave your house.

So the trick is to rent the units to businesses that you actually have to physically go to and there are will always be plenty of local businesses you cant outsource to overseas labor. I would say even given that, the local businesses still have to be savvy enough to provide a great product, like the Chinese restaurant always does with me, but also adapt to online advertising to let people know where to go.

[Minimalist]

There are plenty of half empty strip malls around here.  How many nail salons are needed?

[RoadRunner79]

There are plenty of half empty strip malls around here.  How many nail salons are needed?

You can put one pharmacy next to another one.... Just fill it up with Rite Aids and Starbucks (6 Each).

[Brian37]

There are plenty of half empty strip malls around here.  How many nail salons are needed?

I don't think I was suggesting all 12 units are all Chinese food joints or all salons.

Yes, you do have to check surrounding competing strip malls to get an idea of what not to do so you don't lose your shirt flooding the market, sure.

That salon I mentioned DOES WELL. So does the breakfast place but especially the Chinese food joint. 

Down the road a little less than 2 miles there is another strip mall that L shaped with what must be 25-30 units and with the exception of 2 or three, they are ALL FULL.

There is a local Italian Bistro, a cable company unit, local Mexican restaurant, a localized book store, a mom and pop second hand shop, a Papa Johns, a Subway sandwich shop and a Food Lion, and those are just the ones I remember.

Point being, is that if that location can do well, the one closer to me can as well, it is just that the realty company that owns that property are fucking assholes who won't lower their rent, or simply don't know what the fuck they are doing. 

If the Chinese food joint, and breakfast place, salon and cleaning business work, in the place right next to me, then just like the mostly full place further down the road, they can figure out how to fill the units too. There is no reason for  a good piece of property like that to sit empty that long, other than the owners bilking tax payers because they get  a tax break for the loss.

---

There are plenty of half empty strip malls around here.  How many nail salons are needed?

You can put one pharmacy next to another one.... Just fill it up with Rite Aids and Starbucks (6 Each).

The last thing we need are pharmacies. The only thing that outnumbers pharmacies around here are churches.

But sure, both are full of drugs and unfortunately popular. One the drug of fictional utopias, and the other the product of big pharma.

---

One of the biggest wastes of money I saw a few years ago, was miles away, close to my mom's assisted living. I saw the construction, and thought, "great, a new business", but months later saw that it was going to be another surf shop. I live near the beach, and you cant throw a rock without hitting a surf shop, and it seemed fucking stupid considering I also live 20 miles above Myrtle Beach SC, in NC, having lived here 12 years driving down to Myrtle Beach seeing all the surf shops go out of business.

Yea, the strip mall close to me, whomever buys it should not be simply renting out to the first person. If you want long term viability you do have to consider other competitors and put businesses in that can compete but are far enough away that they wont flood the market.

That surf shop builder took almost a year to build the building only to end up putting it up for sale in less than a year. The worst part of that particular new surf shop is that just less than three blocks away just before you got to the bridge going to the beach there were TWO well off surf shops. The idiot who built the new one didn't do their homework.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Around here they should but a Starbucks and Walgreens in each QuikTrip gas station. The property savings would be huge.

[Minimalist]

Yea, the strip mall close to me, whomever buys it should not be simply renting out to the first person.

Landlords don't care what you sell.  They rent space.  Half of all businesses fail within 5 years.  All it means is the landlord gets his space to rent again.

[Brian37]

Yea, the strip mall close to me, whomever buys it should not be simply renting out to the first person.

Landlords don't care what you sell.  They rent space.  Half of all businesses fail within 5 years.  All it means is the landlord gets his space to rent again.

Yes I know that, and actually it is half of all business fail within the first 2 years, not 5. 

The point isn't to deny the numbers, the point is to get the climate to be more productive. 

So why is it the shopping complex further down the road which has existed just as long has not remained empty as long? 

Yes it is EASY to take the money in rent and have a high turnover rate. But the only reason that happens is the property owners are getting a TAX break for the loss every year.

That intersection where the mostly empty lots are, is HIGH TRAFFIC so it makes no sense to me why the lots are empty. 

And I can tell you MOST of the businesses in the shopping complex further down the road have REMAINED the same in that same time. I can only remember one or two changes in rentals for the one further down the road in that same 10 years as compared to the only 4 that have remained in the mostly empty shopping complex closer to me.

The one shopping complex that is doing well further down the road is doing something different than the one close to me. Both the properties are high traffic, and in decent locations.

[Minimalist]

The one shopping complex that is doing well further down the road is doing something different than the one close to me.

Unless the landlord - or more correctly the property manager he hired - is completely falling down and the job and refusing to adequately maintain the property (and you haven't said that) then I think the success of the businesses there is a result of the actions of the store owners/operators rather than the landlord.