Many retail closures in the state are getting out of hand,

the state is reporting that close to 1,000,000 square feet of retail shops and warehouses
will be vacant before july

and 50,000 people associated with retail sales will be out of jobs and looking for work.

that number does not include the shippers, truckers , waste handling, maintenance and repair people , painters ,flooring etc.

The B&M retail industry in general is getting crushed by on-line retailing.

This is a major paradigm shift is going to have pretty profound long term effects.

Same thing happened years ago to travel agencies. Internet prices and tourist information drove them out of business.

We are in the process of losing a massive, 80,000 sq Ft Herberger Store. Last year they doubled their square footage. We lost an Offive Depot and KMart is hanging by a thread.

We have a lot of square footage that will probably sit for years with a for lease sign.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

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Same thing happened years ago to travel agencies. Internet prices and tourist information drove them out of business.

Sure....but this time it's happening to all retailers on a massive scale.

It impacts sales tax revenue, real estate values, property taxes, employment, employment taxes, and on, and on, and on.

But man! I save a few dollars on Amazon, so it's worth it!

Its not about the few dollars saved, its about convenience and not having to deal with other people.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:
Same thing happened years ago to travel agencies. Internet prices and tourist information drove them out of business.

Yeah some of the old farts that I sup with , brought that up .

when there were 11 travel agency's you could get some very good prices, now they are down to four, in a fifty mile radius

quote:

Its not about the few dollars saved, its about convenience and not having to deal with other people.

Well it's clearly worth destroying local businesses due to that alone.

I don't think some of you guys have thought this through. You seem to be stopping at the me, me, me part not understanding how it's going to impact you a bit further down the road.

Given that most of the big on-line retailers are collecting sales tax already, what do you propose to do about it?

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

Same thing happened years ago to travel agencies. Internet prices and tourist information drove them out of business.

Sure....but this time it's happening to all retailers on a massive scale.

It impacts sales tax revenue, real estate values, property taxes, employment, employment taxes, and on, and on, and on.

But man! I save a few dollars on Amazon, so it's worth it!

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

Its not about the few dollars saved, its about convenience and not having to deal with other people.

Well it's clearly worth destroying local businesses due to that alone.

I don't think some of you guys have thought this through. You seem to be stopping at the me, me, me part not understanding how it's going to impact you a bit further down the road.

Local businesses aren't an abstract they're us, your neighbor, your family.

Iowa has the 8th highest taxes in the country. It's also the only landlocked state in the top five for highest top income tax rates. Iowa holds the number one spot for the highest corporate income tax rate at 12 percent. Average per capita income (i.e. income per person ) in Iowa is $28,361. That's been about the same since 2005.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
We are in the process of losing a massive Herberger Store. Last year they doubled their square footage. We lost an Offive Depot and KMart is hanging by a thread.

I was a bit surprised to see the Herbergers closing on the news the other night. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the Mall with them gone as an anchor.

I'm not at all surprised that Office Max closed as I don't think I've ever seen any more than one car in the parking lot since they opened. And, K-Mart has been holding on by a thread since the early 80s. I'm surprised they didn't fold when WalMart came to town. I can't imagine that they've made a profit in years.

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We have a lot of square footage that will probably sit for years with a for lease sign.

Yep. Downtown is done for retail. Everything is up in north now.

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Local businesses aren't an abstract they're us, your neighbor, your family.

All of which spend money locally. It's a downward spiral once it starts. If you want to see what happens when businesses cease to exist, check out Detroit.

A local business buys goods and services from other local businesses. Their employees spend money locally. Taxes are collected locally. Once they are gone, that money stops.

A few businesses start to close, and it starts impacting other businesses. Those businesses then begin to fail, and so on.

Property values suffer. School districts suffer. Public services suffer. Fewer people want to live there. Rinse and repeat.

Small business is the life blood of this nation. You loose small business and you're done.

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the state is reporting that close to 1,000,000 square feet of retail shops and warehouses
will be vacant before july

That'a not a lot of square footage, especially on a state wide basis.

that's 40) 25,000 sq ft stores in a population of 3,000,000 people

basically we are talking about 10 counties that will be impacted severely

Amazon is the Death Star for numerous large and small retail busineses.

a1abdj,

Detroit's downfall started in the early 60's. Income Tax of 2% for residents and 1/2 of 1% for non-residents and 5% utility surcharge,high property taxes in relation to the suburbs, "white flight" due to blockbusting, crime, racial strife, 1967 and 1975 riots, poor schools, cross district busing, lack of new single family housing, deteriorating housing stock,gangs,insurance redlining, all contributed to the loss of retail well before Amazon was anything but a place in South America.

IIRC the last major retailer in the city, The J.L. Hudson Company, today a part of Macy's closed their flagship store downtown in 1983. For many years there were no chain grocery stores in the city, only small independents together with party stores served the food needs of it's residents. Only since the early 2000's has that slowly changed.

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Detroit's downfall started in the early 60's.

Sure, there's lots of blame to go around. But let's look at the big one. Detroit was born and died due to the auto industry.

You have lots of business in the area. Lots of employees at that business. Lots of money in the local economy. You loose the business, you loose the employees, all of the money goes away.

Common sense stuff that has countless examples all over the US. But this time it's different. It's not just a single industry. It's everything. Not even limited to retail, as there are service business components to this as well.

The only positives on online retail are better prices (because there's no need to collect all of that local money that pays for your public services), and you don't have to physically go to the store. Every other thing about it is a negative. By time some figure it out it's going to be too late.

one of the two Sears store's is closing here - closing its doors in July

they have about 100,000 SF of retail and 300,000 SF of parking

Sears is the primary architect of their own demise but the real estate is worth more than the revenue from merchandising

while its sad to see Sears go, it means that the real estate market has not only bottomed out, but is starting to turn up - which is good for everyone (except for the 9 employees that will be let go)

Some people are absolutely devastated about the news of Younker's stores closing.

It's interesting to me that there are lots of people who prefer online shopping for the convenience and better prices, but I know plenty of people who love to go shopping at the stores and 1) don't bother to do price comparisons and 2) want it right then and can't wait two days for it to be delivered.