California Beaches Blog

California’s malls have been shockingly desolate in the past few months. Just down the street from where I live, one mall has far too many empty stores and window-fronts this season, pushing around 30% empty. People are bringing their kids to play in the commons areas, but no one is buying.  I am predicting that you won’t get mauled at the mall during Black Friday 2009.

I went into a  major office supply chain looking for a legal size file cabinet this week. The store didn’t have any. Can you check your computer for other stores? I pleaded. None were available in their 8 stores throughout Southern California. I was the only customer and there were four sales clerks in this once thriving location which had become a ghost town. Just outside the door, in fact, over 200,000 cars passed by. So I moved onto not one, but two other major office supply chains. Only one had inventory of this common item, though it wasn’t in the gray color I hoped for. I was just so glad to find a file cabinet that I settled for whatever I could get.  If this is as good as it gets–customers with money to spend, but no merchandise, then how are these places making a go of it? How are these major corporations meeting payroll when each store I entered had more staff than customers?

While there will be a few holiday shopping hot spots and items on every parent’s “must have for your kids” list, I have never seen the stores quite so empty so close to Christmas.  A few bright spots where crowds never seem to disappear around here—Target, Walmart and Costco.

Happy holiday shopping in California.