Can shopping malls survive digital age

Can shopping malls survive digital age This spring, Sears Holdings will close 108 Kmart stores and 42 Sears stores that have been struggling to meet financial goals. Kohl's recently told investors it will reduce the cheap mulberry bags online size of hundreds of its stores, according to Fortune Magazine. The goal is to cut costs and focus on items customers want the most. Kohl's did not http://littlepoppitt.com/mains.php?buy-707.html respond to the MDJ as to whether changes would impact any Cobb County locations. "The Simon Town Center Mall http://littlepoppitt.com/mains.php?buy-4453.html is one of the more successful malls in Simon's portfolio," said Tracy Rathbone, executive director of Town Center CID. "It is doing well and working on master plan efforts for exciting redevelopments." JC Penney is expected to release the list of stores it will close any day now, but the one at Town Center is expected to be safe. Morningstar Credit Ratings has released a list of the JC Penney stores most likely to be shut down, and Town Center's is not on the list. According to the JC Penney, the total store closures represent approximately 13 to 14 percent of the company's current store portfolio, less than 5 percent of total annual sales and zero percent of http://www.vital-soft.co.uk net income. "Town Center at Cobb is seeing strong momentum in the first quarter of 2017," said General Manager of Town Center at Cobb Marie Moore. "We recently announced that ThinkGeek would open its first Cobb County store in the center, and the response has been overwhelming. We also welcomed new stores like City Gear, Mr. DooDads and Waikiki. In the final months of 2016, quite a few of our stores refreshed their spaces with renovations, relocations and expansions, which is a testament to their commitment both to this center and http://www.ryburnhistory.org.uk/ our shoppers." When Cumberland Mall came on the scene in 1973, it provided the kiss of death to Cobb County's first major mall, Cobb Center, later known as Four Seasons. By the 1990s, Cobb Center was down to one anchor store, Rich's, and operating at about 50 percent occupancy, according to the http://www.womensengagementrings.co.uk MDJ archives. "Speaking as an economist, I know part of the issue is that the competition from online shopping has made http://www.vital-soft.co.uk it such that the volume of transactions in brick and mulberry bayswater tote mortar retailers has dropped," he said. "Every holiday season we hear more and more sales are done online and less of it is done in stores, putting pressure on their business model." In announcing its upcoming closures, Chairman and CEO of JC Penney Marvin alexa chung mulberry bag R. Ellison acknowledged the role online retail has played in shaping retail in the physical world. "We believe closing stores will allow us to adjust our business to effectively http://littlepoppitt.com/mains.php?buy-1014.html compete against the growing threat of online retailers," Ellison said in a statement. But Ellison said brick and mortar locations still offer services shoppers can't get online. "Our physical stores are a destination for personalized beauty offerings, a broad mulberry sale array of special sizes, affordable private brands and quality home goods and services." KSU marketing professor Deborah Lester agrees. She said traditional stores can be successful in the online age if they provide an experience that can't be matched on a keyboard or mobile device. "Brick and mortars are never going away, because there's a consumer that wants to buy things and have them instantaneously in their hands," she said. "But they go to those brick and mortar stores where they get that kind of experience that they want to have, and depending on your target market, it's going to vary from retail site to retail site." Ellison said holding onto physical locations makes financial sense as well. believe the future winners in retail will be the companies that can create a frictionless interaction between stores and e commerce, while leveraging physical locations to minimize the growing operational costs of delivery. said the evolution of American retail in the 21st century can go both ways. "What's also ironic about the whole thing is Amazon is opening brick and mortar stores," she said. "Because they understand that there is a customer who wants to go to that brick and mortar store and buy and have the merchandise right there instantaneously and be able to touch and feel and try on. They don't want to do everything online." That begs the question, if physical retail can thrive in a world of online shopping, why are cheap mulberry bags genuine so mulberry uk sale many locations closing their doors?Lester, the KSU professor, said retail mulberry bags corporations often have themselves to blame when they have problems. "I think that online sales do contribute somewhat, but to http://littlepoppitt.com/mains.php?buy-4453.html be quite honest with you, it's usually the fault of the retailers, that they haven't caught up with their target market and how their target market is buying," she said. "If they predominantly go after an online consumer or that particular age range, yes it's going to mulberry lily sale impact them, but it's not necessarily the sole reason. Like Macy's has been floundering for years, trying to really target their market better. They've gone through several different strategies and they just have not responded to what their consumer what their target market is looking for." She said with Macy's, the problem has been creating the right environment to attract shoppers. "The Macy's consumer, while they might be looking for online mulberry bags opportunities to buy, they also are black mulberry bags looking for the right retail environment to make their purchases," Lester said. "The market has changed so much and Macy's has not responded as quickly as they should to stay ahead of the game."