Sneaker stores (Foot Locker, Footaction, Finish Line, Locker Room, etc) are always among the remaining holdouts, and often the last surviving retailers, in dying shopping malls in the United States. Why do sneaker stores have such post-apocalyptic cockroach-like staying power, even in the bleakest retail environments?
One could say “people always need new shoes”. However, people always need new clothes, too, and most people have a lot more clothes than shoes. In dying malls, most clothing stores close long before the sneaker stores finally give up. One can buy clothing outside of a mall, but there’s also shoe stores in regular shopping plazas, lifestyle centers, neighborhood main/high streets, and so on. It’s not as if one must visit a mall to get footwear.
Because they can afford it. Gross profit margins on athletic shoes can be up to 50% or more. That $70 pair of Nikes costs twenty bucks to make; Nike sells them to Foot Locker for about $35.
When I buy shoes online about 50% of the time I have to return them because the fit is not right. And much of the remaining 50% I may not be entirely satisfied; they’re just not bad enough to go through the hassle of sending them back.
If there were a bricks and mortar shoe shop near to me I’d be all over it like some funny metaphor.
Clothes IME are less hit and miss once you know all your measurements.
But seriously, folks, one of the advantages of running a shoe store is that you can pack a lot of high-margin inventory into a very small space, so it’s probably easier for shoe stores to stay afloat while the other stores sink.
Markups of 50% are pretty common for durable consumer goods. Sunglasses are generally sold at 50% above vendor cost, for example.
I think this is pretty much it: shoes are really hard to buy sight unseen. I can buy a half-dozen pairs of prescription eyeglasses from Zenni for the cost of one pair at LensCrafters (though I haven’t yet, for reasons that escape me). At that price, if two or three or even five pairs don’t fit or look silly I can just toss them out. I can’t buy a pair of running shoes online for a price that makes it worth the hassle of shipping them back, though.
If you inspect your local malls carefully I bet you’ll find that tuxedo rental places outlast other businesses too. The reason is basically the same: online tuxedo rental is impractical (not to mention shipping a tux.)
It’s because malls offer deeply discounted lease rates to shoe stores, in hopes of increasing foot traffic. Ba-ba-boom! Thank you, folks, I’ll be here all week!
On the other side of the coin… are suburban strip malls built with a convenience store, an Asian (usually Vietnamese) nail salon and a karate dojo as standard components?
I don’t know about that, but around here all of the “second tier” malls have gone under over the last 5-10 years, and only the large regional malls are left.
In Central Florida, the “normal” malls are dying but the high-end Millennia Mall (half the store is Gucci, Prada, Chanel, Vuitton, Cartier, etc.) is going from strength to strength. There are also several “town centers” which are really just roofless malls that are doing well too.
Well, if there’s a convenience store, it’s usually the anchor store in the strip so not too surprising to see it there. Usually the last stores to go in a strip mall are the places that are only leasing a space as an office (realty, mortgage or insurance offices) and so don’t rely on foot traffic at all.
The mall closest to me (Pittsburgh Mills Mall) is where senior citizens go to walk. Stores go from “Grand Opening Sale” directly to “Going Out Of Business Sale”. It’s the mall I go to if I want to touch/hold a product prior to placing my order on Amazon.
Yes, I’ve seen the “town center” phenomenon recently. It seems to be a growing trend… and I just don’t get it…They build all the same stores as the old malls, but you have to go out in the rain and snow to shop there. What’s the advantage?
Maybe the rent is a bit cheaper because there’s no maintenance and heating bills to pay on the big enclosed space. But the prices in the stores don’t seem any cheaper than in the mall, and nobody advertises the “Town Center” as a cheap place to shop…they advertise it as the new, fun, trendy, fashionable place to shop… Just like the mall used to be.
But where’s the fun in shopping while you are wet and cold and there’s noplace to grab a quick snack?
Where I live, the Hudson Vally NY, I’ve noticed that Radio Shacks tend to survive the longest. Because they’re a chain they can be more supported than independent stores. Plus they’re essentially little department stores. I know one that survived alone in an outdoor strip mall for more than twenty-five years (empty anchor store, rarely any other mom/pop stores) before the whole place finally got rebuilt & revitalized (the RS stayed along with it). There is also one that’s still the sole survivor in an otherwise nearly empty indoor mall.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, they built a new mall, Southpointe Pavilions, as an outdoor lifestyle center. One of the reasons was to discourage youths (and therefore gangs) from hanging out there.
Outdoor malls are much cheaper to build and maintain which means greater profits for the property owners (and cheaper leases for the shop owners). Although you lose the customer benefit of being sheltered from the weather, they try to play up the benefits of being outdoors with lavish landscaping, water features, performance areas, and most importantly the whole “main street” shopping feeling where you’re hopefully encouraged to wander about and enjoy the ambiance. Although there’s not a central food court, I’ve noticed that outdoor malls usually have nicer restaurants and pub-style eateries and you can still usually find a coffee shop or Subway or something for a cheap bite. Come winter in northern climes, you go heavy with the wreaths, garland, bows and lights which combined with (shoveled and clean) paver walks hopefully makes the people think of hot cocoa, Christmas carols and buying lots of gifts.
Really though, the primary benefit is that traditional malls are too expensive so outdoor malls give the stores a place to exist. The rest of it is just so you don’t miss the roof as much.