\u00a0is closing stores<\/a>.\u00a0 This is seen as a crisis.\u00a0 It\u2019s not, it\u2019s a rational and inevitable response to the crappy economy and changes in urban development and business management.<\/p>\nThe Administration has been manipulating the economic statistics and the media have been hiding the decline for seven years with no end in sight, but actual businesses can\u2019t operate on wisps and whispers, they need cash in hand and it\u2019s not coming in the door because the economy is crap and everybody knows it.\u00a0 Empty stores generate no profit so close them and rely on internet sales.\u00a0 The Sears Roebuck catalogue pioneered mail-order sales, they\u2019re simply going back to their roots.<\/p>\n
Urban planners want more outdoor pedestrian malls and are willing to use tax dollars to get them.\u00a0 Developers stop building indoor malls in favor of outdoor pedestrian walking areas, not because consumers prefer to slog through slush but because hogs feed\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0deepest\u00a0trough.\u00a0 When the development is complete and the developer paid in full, the stores will sit empty until filled by nail parlors, cell phone shops, e-cigarette kiosks, Subways and taxpayer-supported non-profits while customers drive to the nearest Wal-Mart or Target Super Stores.
\nYes, stores are closing but other stores are opening.\u00a0 Walgreens closed a store on Lexington in my neighborhood.\u00a0 Is that the end of the world?\u00a0 No, they opened one across the street.\u00a0 Best Buy is trying the smaller store model.\u00a0 It’s an industry response to the market.\u00a0 Grand Avenue type shopping boutique areas, extremely expensive inner city land prices, etc. are driving them to put smaller stores in tighter spaces.\u00a0 Coupled with that is the continued improvement in “just-in-time inventory” which allows smaller stores with very little backroom stock.\u00a0 Smaller depth in inventory means smaller space needed to house it on the showroom floor and therefore lower prices for customers.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing, in my book.\u00a0 That also means market opportunity for shippers, ware-housers, etc.\u00a0 Except of course that Minnesota has decided to tax those businesses out of the game.<\/p>\n
Joe Doakes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The market is adapting to, well, the market.<\/p>\n
The notion that any business’ survival is in and of itself vital – or worse, that any business is “too big to fail” – is the most toxic idea possible in a free society.<\/p>\n
Of course, the obvious corollary is that government is the same way.<\/p>\n
More on that next week. Or maybe the week after.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: Sears\u00a0is closing stores.\u00a0 This is seen as a crisis.\u00a0 It\u2019s not, it\u2019s a rational and inevitable response to the crappy economy and changes in urban development and business management. The Administration has been manipulating the economic statistics and the media have been hiding the decline for seven years with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy-and-the-market"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41335,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41326\/revisions\/41335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}