Quote:
Originally Posted by RobEss
I am constantly baffled by anyone who still see's a future in the standard 20th century concept of a 'mall'
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Not sure why. In wealthy cities like New York, shopping is an activity that requires a physical venue, which makes it less likely to be substituted with online purchases. Retail is a broad category - some kinds of purchases/buyers are more likely to switch to online than others. A wealthy tourist in New York is far more likely to visit a physical store for a designer handbag (because shopping is just
something that tourists do) whereas a middle-class family in Ohio shopping for blue jeans may switch to online. For that reason I don't see the Fifth Avenues and Rodeo Drives going anywhere - the insane rents and construction budgets may moderate, but I don't see the shopping districts going away.
As for malls, they are just aggregations of individual stores and their ongoing success/failure will depend on the factors I mentioned above. These are different than the factors of the past. The old adage is that "retail follows rooftops" but people are moving more and more of their day-to-day purchases online, so having residential nearby will matter less, even dense residential. Physical retail in the future may depend far more on being a destination for tourists and people from across the region, so having excellent transportation links and unique offerings are more important than ever. A mall at Hudson Yards may do just fine, given the tourist draw of the Vessel and the huge volumes of people at Penn Station/Port Authority nearby.