The retail apocalypse has officially descended on America

[helmuth_hubener]

no downtown grocers in Indianapolis .

Groceries are particularly susceptible to theft. Their presence and the presence of certain Diverse and Enriching lower classes are generally incompatible with each other.

Then, when the grocers flee the riff-raff, we have to hear belly-aching about "food deserts."

This is as currently organized, of course. It presents a market opportunity. Probably what is needed is grocery stores organized like payday loan establishments in bad neighborhoods. There is a small, brightly lit, heavily-surveilled front area where the customer walks in and waits. Behind a thick, thoroughly-bulletproof barrier a clerk takes the customer's order for food, secures payment, goes back and fetches the food, and then carefully and alertly slides it through a small gap under the barrier one item at a time.

Due to the size of some of the items -- Cheeto bags, sugar cereal boxes -- a different mechanism may be needed rather than the small gap. Perhaps a steel safe of sorts with a front and back door could be invented (only one door open at a time, like an airlock).

Progress! Technology! We're Moving Forward!

[tod evans]

Groceries are particularly susceptible to theft. Their presence and the presence of certain Diverse and Enriching lower classes are generally incompatible with each other.

Then, when the grocers flee the riff-raff, we have to hear belly-aching about "food deserts."

This is as currently organized, of course. It presents a market opportunity. Probably what is needed is grocery stores organized like payday loan establishments in bad neighborhoods. There is a small, brightly lit, heavily-surveilled front area where the customer walks in and waits. Behind a thick, thoroughly-bulletproof barrier a clerk takes the customer's order for food, secures payment, goes back and fetches the food, and then carefully and alertly slides it through a small gap under the barrier one item at a time.

Due to the size of some of the items -- Cheeto bags, sugar cereal boxes -- a different mechanism may be needed rather than the small gap. Perhaps a steel safe of sorts with a front and back door could be invented (only one door open at a time, like an airlock).

Progress! Technology! We're Moving Forward!

Or just stop supporting them and let 'em starve....

[Zippyjuan]

Groceries are particularly susceptible to theft. Their presence and the presence of certain Diverse and Enriching lower classes are generally incompatible with each other.

Then, when the grocers flee the riff-raff, we have to hear belly-aching about "food deserts."

This is as currently organized, of course. It presents a market opportunity. Probably what is needed is grocery stores organized like payday loan establishments in bad neighborhoods. There is a small, brightly lit, heavily-surveilled front area where the customer walks in and waits. Behind a thick, thoroughly-bulletproof barrier a clerk takes the customer's order for food, secures payment, goes back and fetches the food, and then carefully and alertly slides it through a small gap under the barrier one item at a time.

Due to the size of some of the items -- Cheeto bags, sugar cereal boxes -- a different mechanism may be needed rather than the small gap. Perhaps a steel safe of sorts with a front and back door could be invented (only one door open at a time, like an airlock).

Progress! Technology! We're Moving Forward!

Probably not one of these in such neighborhoods:

[helmuth_hubener]

Probably not one of these in such neighborhoods.

It could be doable. Instead of five checkout clerks post five armed guards in full body armor. With order to immediately shoot and kill anyone attempting to exit the store with stolen goods.

So, it would take a different legal environment. Which in turn would take a populace with a very different temperament. One that cared about virtue and honesty and law.

Much easier to just erect the bullet-proof glass.

Of course, easier does not mean better. It is a retreating maneuver. Just as is the constant "white flight" of decent Americans fleeing ever further and further from the ruined husks of the cities they built, abandoning them to their hopeless fate.

At some point, we need to stop retreating, turn around, and start taking it all back. No mercy.

[Zippyjuan]

Ban poor people!

[helmuth_hubener]

Or just stop supporting them and let 'em starve....

Anonymous Conservative is buoyantly optimistic that we are going to see a massive shift into K-selection, wherein the r-selected hordes are, well, all killed off. I don't see that happening, but I could be wrong!

Anyway, your passive middle ground of not actively slaughtering them but simply allowing them to die by the tens of millions from essentially a mass famine event is ethically and practically attractive. Unfortunately the "r"s tend to aggression and criminality and would not simply lie down and die with dignity, accepting that "Oh, yes, I can see now it's the case that I am not capable of sufficient productive contribution to feed myself and thus am unfit to live." Instead they will begin to attempt to pillage all those who do have resources, who will be forced to exterminate them or be exterminated themselves.

[Suzanimal]

Cuba's Capital Now Has a Luxury Mall

NEWSER) – The saleswomen in L'Occitane en Provence's new Havana store make $12.50 a month. The acacia eau de toilette they sell costs $95.20 a bottle. A few doors down, a Canon EOS camera goes for $7,542.01. A Bulgari watch, $10,200. In the heart of the capital of a nation founded on ideals of social equality, the business arm of the Cuban military has transformed a century-old shopping arcade into a temple to conspicuous capitalism, the AP reports. With the first Cuban branches of L'Occitane, Mont Blanc, and Lacoste, the Manzana de Gomez mall has become a sociocultural phenomenon since its opening a few weeks ago, with Cubans wandering wide-eyed through its polished-stone passages. Teenagers pose for Facebook photos in front of stores, throwing victory signs in echoes of the images sent by relatives in Miami, who pose grinning alongside 50-inch TV sets and luxury convertibles.

The five-story Manzana sits off the Prado, the broad, tree-lined boulevard that divides the colonial heart of the city. The upper floors are a five-star hotel opening in early June that is owned by the military's tourism arm, Gaviota, and run by Swiss luxury chain Kempinski. The hotel is earning positive early reviews but many tourists say they find the luxury mall alongside it to be repulsive. "I was very disappointed," says Chicago resident Jeannie Goldstein, whose first trip to Cuba ended Saturday. "I came here to get away from this," she says. "This screams wealth and America to us." Some Cubans, however, say they're glad to see a sign the country is opening itself up to foreign wealth. But for many working-class Cubans, it's painful. "This hurts because I can't buy anything," says a 71-year-old retired electrical mechanic who lives on $12.50 a month. "There are people who can come here to buy things, but it's maybe one in 10. Most of the country doesn't have the money."

http://www.newser.com/story/242483/1...s-in-cuba.html

[oyarde]

Who would pay 7542.00 for a canon camera ?

[Suzanimal]

The upper floors are a five-star hotel opening in early June that is owned by the military's tourism arm, Gaviota, and run by Swiss luxury chain Kempinski. The hotel is earning positive early reviews but many tourists say they find the luxury mall alongside it to be repulsive. "I was very disappointed," says Chicago resident Jeannie Goldstein, whose first trip to Cuba ended Saturday. "I came here to get away from this," she says. "This screams wealth and America to us."

[timosman]

Ban poor people!

The government would collapse. There would be nobody to provide support for government emotional appeals to end poverty.

[helmuth_hubener]

Ban poor people!

Poor people don't steal.

Monkeys steal.

Poor people don't steal. Rich people don't steal.

Monkeys steal.

Good zookeepers try to stop them. Pro-monkeyists like our resident Criminal 'Migrant,' Juan, side with the monkeys and attempt to give them free reign, to stop any checks on their behavior. And the monkeys keep multiplying.

Multiplying. Multiplying. Multiplying. That is what monkey-rabbits do.

[DamianTV]

The government would collapse. There would be nobody to provide support for government emotional appeals to end poverty.

I thought the lower class people were just there to scare the $#@! out of the middle class? Oops, my bad, the middle class became the lower class...

[oyarde]

The government would collapse. There would be nobody to provide support for government emotional appeals to end poverty.

Nearly all poverty in the US is Because of govt . , so collapsing govt would help some people .

[timosman]

Nearly all poverty in the US is Because of govt . , so collapsing govt would help some people .

It is true, but the government does not see it this way.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

The problem is competition- it is easier and usually cheaper to shop online. Or at Walmart.

Many places now price match. And junk is not competition.

[BV2]

Good. And when Amazon is done consolidating market share, and start to increase their prices people will get what they wanted...hows the saying go? Oh yeah: good and hard.

This too is good. Because we live in Amerika circa 2017 where up is down, girl is boy, and left most assuredly is right.

[gaazn]

It is totally not right for a small retailer to pay taxes, which the federal governments gives to amazon thru huge contracts. Then amazon uses that cash flow to keep killing the retailer. As mr bernie would say, billionaires dont just buy huge newspaper companies like the washington post just so that they can read the newspaper....

[Suzanimal]

Sears hold liquidation sales; 20 more stores closing

Sears stores across the country will be holding liquidation sales Friday.

The chain is trying cost-cutting measure to survive, according to the company’s management. The retail chain announced in January it would be closing 150 stores starting in the spring. Last week management announced it would close an additional 20 outlet stores. Sears Holdings, which includes Kmart stores, is on pace to close 260 locations in 2017.

The company said in March that without the measures it’s likely the company would go out of business.

"Our historical operating results indicate substantial doubt exists related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern," said the statement.

The company lost $2.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in January. It has not made a profit since 2010.

The liquidation sales will continue, Sears management said, through mid-September.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/trending-n...sing/545809103

[timosman]

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-retail-debt/

November 8, 2017

The so-called retail apocalypse has become so ingrained in the U.S. that it now has the distinction of its own Wikipedia entry.

The industry’s response to that kind of doomsday description has included blaming the media for hyping the troubles of a few well-known chains as proof of a systemic meltdown. There is some truth to that. In the U.S., retailers announced more than 3,000 store openings in the first three quarters of this year.

But chains also said 6,800 would close. And this comes when there’s sky-high consumer confidence, unemployment is historically low and the U.S. economy keeps growing. Those are normally all ingredients for a retail boom, yet more chains are filing for bankruptcy and rated distressed than during the financial crisis. That’s caused an increase in the number of delinquent loan payments by malls and shopping centers.

...

[oyarde]

Americans have a plan . That plan does not include retail . Instead of going to the brick and mortar store and buying an item for 40 , they will browse the net for hours , buy that chinese made product for 30 and eat a 5 dollar bag of doritos while "saving" 5 . The same day this happens , they will put zero dollars in a 401K or savings- retirement account , the employer they work for will put zero dollars in a pension fund for them and the govt takes monies from them to feed paid informants , gun control , food stamps , dept of education , the FBI , CIA , BATFE etc . All this while half will be foolish enough to think America can be Great and the other half will work to ensure it cannot .Dayligt " saving" time brings darkness at 5:30 on a gloomy Nov day ending shopping at retail an hour earlier for the people over 50 that actually have money who have no desire to wander in the dark and cold and hunt for reading glasses .

[fedupinmo]

[euphemia]

It is sad in a way . Pull into a town of 40k and no longer a Sears , Kmart , JC Pennies

Oddly enough, Sears, JC Penney's, and Montgomery Ward all had huge catalog sales back in the day. That was the precursor to on-line shopping.

[EBounding]

Going to the store is generally an awful experience. Especially one that hasn't been updated since the 90's.

[euphemia]

I really only shop in small stores these days. Painful knees mean more drive-by shopping.

[Suzanimal]

I really only shop in small stores these days. Painful knees mean more drive-by shopping.

I've gotten the same way lately. My knees don't hurt but I just hate grocery stores and it seems like they're getting bigger and bigger. I've found Aldi to be the most convenient and I can always get one of the boys to go with me because they get to keep the quarter for doing all the work, lol.

[euphemia]

Husband does the shopping now because I really cannot stay on my feet that long.

[sparebulb]

I do all of the shopping for an elderly parent. I find the retail experience to be pure hell. Fat, obstructive, smelly, sickly brain-dead boobuses abound everywhere.

I agree, Aldi is the best here, but they understaff to the point that the checkout wait annoys me.

[euphemia]

If you want a good retail experience, go to Sally's Beauty Supply. They are fully staffed with licensed cosmetologists. Those people know their products. They are friendly and the Sally's card costs $5.00 a year. They give a coupon for $5.00 off the next visit plus free product. I don't think I have bought shampoo in about 3 years. By far, my favorite store for nail, skin, and hair care.

[timosman]

http://www.businessinsider.com/dolla...-class-2017-12

Dollar General and other dollar stores are thriving while department stores struggle to survive — and their success is built on the death of the American middle class.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Dollar General has become one of the most profitable retailers in the US by opening more locations in places across the country that have continued to struggle economically.

"The economy is continuing to create more of our core customer," Dollar General CEO Todd Vasos told the WSJ.

The company's target shopper comes from a household making $40,000 or less a year.

"We are putting stores today [in areas] that perhaps five years ago were just on the cusp of probably not being our demographic, and it has now turned to being our demographic," Vasos said.

As department stores like Sears and Macy's have struggled to grow sales, dollar stores and other super-budget retailers are dominating.

From 2010 to 2015, dollar store sales grew from $30.4 billion to $45.3 billion in the US. While retailers close thousands of stores across the US, the WSJ reports Dollar General is planning to build "thousands more stores, mostly in small communities that have otherwise shown few signs of the U.S. economic recovery."

Dollar stores' success is based on their ability to provide what lower-income households need when they have no other options. Instead of selling items in bulk that allow for long-term savings, dollar stores sell small quantities of items that customers can afford — even if they end up paying more on a per-ounce or per-item basis in the long run.

"Essentially what the dollar stores are betting on in a large way is that we are going to have a permanent underclass in America," Garrick Brown, director for retail research at the commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, told Bloomberg.

Brown continued: "It's based on the concept that the jobs went away, and the jobs are never coming back, and that things aren't going to get better in any of these places."

Pew Research Center defines "middle class" in America as households with two-thirds to double the national median income. While that still includes roughly half of American households, it's a shrinking group — from 2000 to 2014, middle-class populations decreased in 203 of the 229 metropolitan areas reviewed in a Pew study.

While the average household income for the wealthiest 20% of Americans grew by about 60% from 1980 to 2015, the rest of America has lagged significantly behind. The mean income of the lowest-earning 20% grew by just 10% in the same time period.

[Working Poor]

I have been hatching an idea for Apocalypse Vacations.