I went to the mall today!

[mrpercentage]

[Captain Cactus]

Maybe I'm just more tuned into the whole topic, but I can't help but think that simple living/mustachianism is catching on.  Material possessions and shopping does not = happiness. 

[KarefulKactus15]

I think your just more in tune.    People appear to be getting more stupid with consumerism. imo

[Kaminoge]

Interesting. I think people are getting more tuned in to minimalism etc. Whether it is more than just the latest trend though remains to be seen. Just look at all the books on the subject that have been selling well. Although I must admit the irony of buying books about getting rid of stuff is kind of amusing.

I'm pretty sure there's a lot of data showing people are spending less on stuff and more on experiences. Of course that means they're still spending but it does seem to be a cultural change. In the West at any rate.

[human]

Are these real sales? I've noticed a lot of places in my area will have a few items on deep discount and advertise the shit it out of it to get people in the store. Or have stuff on perpetual sale meaning the sale price is actually the real price. Even though there are laws against that.

Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about and all these places are going bankrupt. I don' think materialism is in decline when consumer debt just keeps rising . . .

[nobodyspecial]

The mattress store near us has been running a final clearance sale for the 10years I have lived here.
I think the sign is now a registered historic landmark

[SimplyMarvie]

I agree -- I think it's a generational thing; vast swathes of the Millennials and whatever comes after them seem to be less attached to mall-style consumerism. It's been interesting to watch the slow failures of 'big retail' at home in the Midwest. Every time I go back, it seems like another mall has either closed or become zombiefied.

[ender]

Pretty sure online shopping and the lower cost of buying things online (plus the ability to "window shop" online) is what is killing malls, not a lack of consumerism.

[forummm]

Retailers are always having "big sales". It's their business model. People think "Ooh, a sale, stuff must be cheap, I'm going to get great deals, I should go buy stuff!". But it's just overpriced crap they don't need with a slightly lower number on the sticker (but one where the retailer is still making a lot of profit).

[mrpercentage]

I saw the liquidation and deep discounts as alarming to any mall retailers and REITS. Sometimes I think the sign is right in your face. Either they are ethically poor companies falsely advertising great deals or they are are struggling enough to post sales like these. The entire mall was littered with those. Those all were in a row. For some reason I knew I had to take the pictures and share it. See how much I care about you guys.

[BDWW]

It's all a farce. Nobody in here followed the JCPenney debacle?

So JCPenny notoriously always had everything marked as XX% off.  Well, recently a new CEO decided that since everything was just always on sale, they'd just permanently reduce prices. So they came out with a new slogan, something like walmarts "everyday low prices." Got rid of the sales, and just reduced their normal prices to previous "sale" prices.

Sales TANKED.

After about six months they switched back to high prices and permanent sales. People would rather pay the same for some that's marked 50% off than that same price not on "sale".

[dougules]

I wish this were the end of ridiculous consumerism, but I think it's just more a change in tastes.  Enclosed malls are out of style now and most are dying like the 1984 special a few miles from us.  On the other hand, the 2007 "lifestyle center" (as in it's just a mall without a roof built to more closely fake an actual downtown) a little further down the stroad is doing quite well. 

[acroy]

Let you in on a secret - (shhhhhh...)   those are permanent signs!

[JetBlast]

I wouldn't read too much into those signs.  My wife worked part time in a clothing store and there were always sales on some item, with a big chalkboard style sign to advertise the sale. I'd guess there was maybe one day a month where everything sold at the marked price.

[BDWW]

Here's a couple articles on the JCPenney thing if anyone's bored/curious

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/02/jcpenney-pricing-disaster-morale_n_3196037.html

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2013/04/12/why-jc-penny-failed-under-ron-johnson

[SimplyMarvie]

I did follow the J.C. Penney thing -- we used to buy nearly all of Mr. Marvie's clothes at Penney's, because he's one of those few men who is tall and yet not big, so their catalog department was one of the only places we could find 30 x 36 (or 38) pants. The changes in cost happened contemporaneously with a change in stock, to no longer favor sizes in the tail end of the bell curve. It probably wasn't a driver in the sales disaster, which went down about 100% like the poster above called out, but it was an interesting change.