Once I had the wife of a very prominent fashion designer as a patient in Palm Beach. In fact, they have a store in almost every mall across the country. This is why I was absolutely shocked when she told me that she doesn’t like to go to the mall! I thought, what? Really? Everything you have is because you built this empire from people who frequent the mall and you don’t even go to one?
I was at the mall today with my daughters and stopped by Charlotte Russe who had the last two days of sales and only two rounders of clothes left that were 80 to 90 percent off. Which led me to a question that I had been pondering for quite some time, what is happening to our malls? I know that online retailers are driving business away from the malls, but a good portion of my money is given to the kids who absolutely love to go to the mall.
Can the malls survive the online movement of retail? I think they can. As a matter of fact, the majority of the people that were at the mall today were yep, “teenagers.” This is a place where they go to socialize, to check each other out, to buy that item that is trending and looks great on them, while also exploring the possibility that they may see a friend that they know.
Anyway, the point that I’m trying to make is that, even though many retailers are choosing to market online, as long as you have teenagers that are willing to persuade their parents to drop them off at the mall, there will always be a viable marketplace.
XO,
Maria
