TED Talk - Retrofitting Suburbia

Walmart Going Urban

(Walmart).. has almost exhausted growth possibilities in suburbs and small towns, and now is looking at urban neighborhoods. ...

To fit into cities... It would shrink its stores to as small as 8,000 square feet, about 4 percent of the size of an average supercenter. It is considering formats that are primarily groceries, stores where customers can order something online and pick it up, stores where local business owners can lease space, and even formats like bodegas.

...“We have very small market share in the large cities within the United States, so we see a big opportunity for us to grow in those urban markets,”... -In the NY Times

Death of the Mall (again)

In the New York Times, yesterday.

...There are roughly 1,500 malls in the United States, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, many of them ailing, some of them being converted into office buildings, and others closing their doors for good.
...
We have changed, not the mall.
...
The economic crisis has caused shoppers to go into an essentials-only mode. But the mall has never trafficked in essentials. You can’t, for instance, fill a prescription at the Mall of America, because it doesn’t have a pharmacy. You can, however, buy a vanilla hazelnut fragrance candle in the shape of a miniature cooking skillet. Or a $13 baseball hat that looks as though it’s made of cheddar cheese. A store called Corda-Roy’s sells a variety of bean bags that convert into beds. Magnet Max sells a battery-operated guinea pig that runs continuously on a spinning exercise wheel.

And, as ever, the Mall of America is filled with I-dare-you combinations of fast food and entertainment. You can nibble on a carton of Long John Silver’s buttered lobster bites, then ride the SpongeBob SquarePants roller coaster. You can grab an A & W Coney cheese dog and barbecue fries and then take a virtual submarine ride. You can treat yourself to Mama’s Cinnamon Bread Pudding at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and try the flight simulator at A.C.E.S.
...
“There are days now when I make $160 and think I had a good day,” says Mark Classen, co-owner of Just Dogs! Gourmet, a store in the mall that sells, among other items, signs that say “My Labrador retriever is smarter than your honor roll student” and dog treats shaped like fire hydrants.
....
.. a kiosk that sells hermit crabs as recession-friendly pets.

Next Bust: Retail Real Estate

 

...Shopping malls are losing anchor stores, and large chains are closing stores and even going out of business altogether. Developers who borrowed to finance commercial ventures are in trouble as are the holders of the mortgages, derivatives and other financial junk associated with the loans.

The main source of the economic crisis is the infantile belief of US policymakers that an economy could be based on debt expansion. ...

...Life is already cruel for Americans living on retirement savings. Not only has the stock market bust reduced their wealth by half, but also their remaining assets are producing no income. ... Retirees are living by consuming their capital.

...Interest rates have to be raised in order to encourage saving and to provide incomes to retirees.

...a credible policy of reducing both budget and trade deficits must be announced. In the near term the budget deficit can be reduced by $500 billion by withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan and by cutting a bloated defense budget that represents the now unattainable goal of US world hegemony.

...gangsters are using the crisis as an opportunity to steal from taxpayers and to finance their misdeeds and exorbitant salaries with Federal Reserve loans. Their shills among economists and the financial press tell the people that the solution is to fatten up the banks with funds so they will resume lending to an over-indebted public that will then return to the shopping malls.

This unrealistic approach to a serious crisis indicates a leadership crisis on top of an economic crisis. - Alternet (Graph is from a post of mine 18 months ago)

Jet In Market

Believe it or not, this market was open as I took this shot:

 

[Where: 1210 Linn Street, Cincinnati, OH 45203] Behind Casino Theater at NW corner of Linn and Clark.

Smittys Hanging in There

Smitty's sign is looking a little worn lately:



[where: 1429 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202]

Just a block north, there is a new mural about to appear next to a new parking lot on the site of the infamous Empire Theater:


...stuff on the sidewalk:


[where: 1521 Vine Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202] (Empire Theater site)

Katie Laur at Rinks

Katie Laur Album, Black Tie, Recorded in 1982 at Octev Records, 5825 Vine Street, 45216. Recording Engineer: Larry Nager. Sold at Rinks for $6.99:

 

Octav Records was in Elmwood Place, near or perhaps the same place as Vernon McIntyre's Old Time Music (now moved to Wapokaneta, OH) and before that was it Jimmie Skinner Music Center, at 1300 Vine and before that at 222 E. Fifth Street?)

Rinks, now a Flea Mercado:

 

[Where: 9651 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45231] at Meredith Drive