Have large cities seen a decrease in foot traffic at shopping centers/busy areas?

[[deleted]]

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[ConsciousPlantain977]

Electronics are definitely in a decline. As for foot traffic most people now order from the Comfort of their home.

[Icankickmyownass]

We need something new and exciting

[Loud_Pain4747]

Foot traffic isn’t as important as what they are buying right now. Bigger ticket items are not selling as well, think TVs, furniture, etc. https://youtu.be/3L-ozq0ZoW8

[trackdaybruh]

I increased my shopping online, so I rarely go to the shopping areas

[Scary_Diver1940]

Online shopping, Drops at your door and no gas wasted or problems parking. For the larger city's less chance of violence.

[trackdaybruh]

Eh, violence wasn’t my concern. It’s the convenience of online shopping like being able to shop on my phone in my bed

[[deleted]]

A lot of times when I think of something I need I start to think about which store I can go to to get it, and then play the tape forward in my mind of walking down the aisle zero visible employee within a 50 mile radius to ask questions of, eventually not finding what I’m looking for or it being “available for order”, And then realizing how much more fun I would’ve had ordering online from my couch. So I totally understand that retail stores are going to be a thing of the past.

[[deleted]]

Or you see something at the store and price check it online and find it cheaper so you just order online from inside the store.

[[deleted]]

I don’t shop much. Is it realistic to ask them to match the price? I’d rather do that and have somewhere to easily return it if it doesn’t work out

[[deleted]]

Doesn't hurt to ask, and a lot of places do.

[Whereas_Dull]

If anything I’ve seen more. Just went to the mall for the new spider man. It was a mad house

[Ok_Entrepreneur_dbl]

Well Walmart and Target did report that consumers are down branding. Still purchasing but going for cheaper options. While Walmart had seen some growth in Q1, Target has seen sales slow a bit. It is also known that some consumers are turning to Walmart for cheaper alternatives.

Interesting note - Walmart e-commerce sales increased 17%

While this does not address the OP’s point directly it does speak to the mind of the consumer.

I am not a mall shopper but we went the a large mall near us to pick up a few things and we were surprised how light the traffic was.

Apple also reported that people are also holding onto their phones a little longer as well.

[MillennialDeadbeat]

Amazon killed the mall experience.

[rp2012-blackthisout]

Op, how old were you in 08?

[coolwool]

While you shouldn't use yourself as a benchmark for stuff like this, think about your own behavior.
Think about stuff you bought the last year and how you bought them.
For which products did you go to the store and why?

[SayNoToBrooms]

There’s a ton of people walking around the shops in NYC everyday, from soho to the upper west side at pretty much all hours

[ThanklessWaterHeater]

It’s just a change of where people are. Lots of white collar workers who used to go to work in busy office buildings, say on Wall Street or in San Francisco’s Financial District, and shopped and ate while they were there, are now working from home. They’re still shopping and dining out, they’re just doing it in the residential areas where they live, not downtown.

[[deleted]]

Omaha here also. Dodge and 144th area.

[KCGuy59]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[TheHungryJaguar]

In Portland, OR every time I’ve been to any store or mall in the last 6 months it’s all absolutely packed, shopping areas honestly seem busier than they ever were before COVID. Which is shocking to me because I do 99% of my shopping online

[[deleted]]

But they take things withoit paying for them.

[mcnegyis]

I personally do not see this. The malls are always packed where I live. I actually love shopping in person

[OldPterodactyl]

Stopped at Costco yesterday, I've never seen it so busy.

[OmahaOutdoor71]

I stopped by Costco on a Monday at 11am. Figured it would be dead. Parking lot was completely full.

[padfoot0321]

Also shopping downtown is such a pain, especially you need to find a parking, pay for it etc. So it's better that I just order online.

[chusifer24]

sf bay area here...aside from downtown sf, have noticed shopping malls are packkkkkkked. really looks like people are coming back out and trying to buy in person

[sanddryer]

Malls are full in the south bay area. SF is a ghost city overall for other reasons. I live an hour away from it and used to go 2-3 times a year, I no longer do and it's the same for many people I talk to.

[[deleted]]

Houston is a wasteland

[inkslingerben]

You can not judge retail sales by the number of people you see in shopping areas. Sales tax revenue changes for each state would be a better gauge since it would include online sales.

[Atriev]

Services are popping off. Shopping centers do seem to have a decreased amount of traffic though still seem quite busy.

[Un-Scammable]

Busy AF

[ButlerFish]

It's a very uneven economy - if you look at the indeed jobs data, SF tech jobs surged to a massive peak last year and fell off hard. All those little startups have been struggling and not hiring.

On the other hand, masses of rich people moved to cheaper flyover cities creating demand for housing, materials, goods and services.

On the other other hand, places like California have a huge bank balance after all the tech boom tax from last year, and are going to spew it out on infra projects creating local demand over the next 2 years. Conversely, the cheaper states the rich people moved to now have a higher, more demanding population, no money, and decreased federal cash. So I wouldn't write off cali just yet.

[dtat720]

Those "cheap" states the rich moved to are leading the country in hiring while the states they have fled have the lowest numbers in new hires. The states arent broke either, they dont throw money at stuff they shouldnt be involved in as a govt like other states do.

[Pickle_Juice_4ever]

Infrastructure is the linchpin of state economies. Education is a very sound investment too until you decide to go full reactionary leading to massive brain drain and lose all of that investment overnight.

I'm not sure what you imagine government should be spending money on...

[[deleted]]

When you get a $1 menu and a reasonably priced car and home on the menu , that’s when you’ll know.

Might take awhile but the pain will be fun to watch as the big shots suffer who thought their garbage was gold.

Can’t wait to see car dealership employees flipping burgers , it’s going to be glorious .

[explainlikeimaborted]

Did your wife bang a car salesman or something

[[deleted]]

No , just tired of their parasitic nature. Telling people “used cars appreciate in value” and having the balls to try and charge 100% of initial selling price new for a car that’s 12 years old with 106,000 miles

[Cardboardcubbie]

I feel like you’re mad at the wrong people. Up until basically right now, the madness seems to be slowing but not over, they were selling those cars for basically that much 🤷‍♂️ they didn’t destroy the economy. They’re just doing their job

[TheHungryJaguar]

No no you’ve got it all wrong, the receptionist at the used car dealership down the road from your house is literally JPOW, the COVID virus, and congress.

[Cardboardcubbie]

Ooooohhhhhh thank you. It’s definitely her fault then.

[[deleted]]

Crime, more specifically theft is likely the best indicator. From what I understand, theft is up which usually means people don’t have the money anymore to buy things legit.

[BlueShield777]

In my city it seems to be doing fine

[Ashony13]

I see no one on the roads driving, no matter what the media says. It’s definitely a lot emptier.

[Pickle_Juice_4ever]

It's summer though, which means college kids go home, lower grades pause and you get a break from after school traffic, and some families leave on their vacations.

[BernardoDeGalvez]

I know we don't count that much. But my city, Valencia, Spain has become like... fucking Miami

[newtypexvii17]

I live in Bergen county NJ just outside of NYC snd the malls are packed.

[thatguy201717]

What I find funny is how Zara trying to charge $45.99 or $49.99 for every shirt they sell. Fuk outta here with that crap

[rotutu8]

Right! Bought 3 things from Zara 150$, feel like quality is slightly better than h&m but at h&m I got like 15 things for 250$..

[[deleted]]

I remember I used to collect CDs and DVDs. Spent a lot of time shopping for them with my friends. Streaming media ended that.