Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

If your business relies on a steady influx of underloved possessions from consumers…

if, in other words, you are a consignment, resale, or thrift shop,

in a bricks-&-mortar location or online only, what do you anticipate the “death of malls” will do for your business?

Lazarus, long gone now, was the anchor store in the two Columbus OH malls where I began my learning curve as a retailer.

Premature obituaries for the shopping mall have been appearing since the late 1990s, but the reality today is

more nuanced, reflecting broader trends remaking the American economy. With income inequality continuing to widen, high-end malls are thriving, even as stolid retail chains like Sears, Kmart and J. C. Penney falter, taking the middle- and working-class malls they anchored with them.

Read the full article by Nelson D. Schwartz for The New York Times.

Have you dealt with a mall dying in your market area? Did it change the quality or quantity of incoming goods enough to change your business’ climate? If you are in an area with a mall that’s already abandoned, how has that affected your shoppers’ choices, and did it, perhaps, increase your sales?

Tell us in the comments below!

Photo from http://mall-hall-of-fame.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html