The Bangor, Maine shopping mall is in bankruptcy right now. It's not closed yet but no one ever came in to take the place left by Macy's, and they haven't repaired the parking lot in years.
@Ken Anderson Just how large a mall is that, Ken? For that matter, how large is Bangor? That was a name we heard now and then in school in Social Studies. If the folks normally doing their shopping for necessities, that is, local folks, know their needs are not available at a mall, it's likely they will skip it often. I don't recall any mall anywhere having a store, or stores, aimed at everyday needs: produce, meat, other foods, household needs (though, yes, we have a "Kitchen Connections", not a store to avoid if kitchenware is desired). Malls overall seem to me to be a figment of the imaginations of the dollar-hungry developers; they built them, pushed them, languished back awaiting profit from intensely high rents, then awoke to today's reality. When my wife worked in Phoenix for "Freidman's Microwave Ovens", Friedman had two such stores in the Phoenix area, Chris Town Mall and Fiesta Mall, in Mesa, about 15 miles away. The marketing technique was sound. Show folks they could actually cook and prepare meals, and they would buy. My wife did "Cooking Schools", proving beef roasts, turkeys, cakes, most anything, could be easily and successfully cooked in a microwave. I was amazed at her dexterity! Evidently, Friedman had stores nationwide, riding high on the surge of public interest by the novices. In 1985, a meeting was held in Hawaii, which my wife attended free as an employee, my accompanying her cost a pittance, which was intended to further promote the craze. Once in a lifetime opportunity, I called it. We drove about Kawaii island, astounded by the beauty! "Friedman's Microwaves" is now gone. Almost everyone has one by now, few know how to cook with them, the novelty and prestige of owning one is gone, and here we are, wife & I, looking forward to Thanksgiving when she will pull a wonderfully cooked turkey out of our microwave, breast meat more juicy and tangy than ever via an oven. Frank
If you've listened to the song,"King of the Road," you've heard of Bangor, Maine because it's in the lyrics. The Hank Snow / Johnny Cash song, "I've Been Everywhere," also lists Bangor as one of many cities in the lyrics. Johnny Cash names Bangor in his song, "Locomotive Man," too. Bangor has a population of about 30,000, but several other cities surrounding it are often collectively known as "Bangor," but not by people who live there. At 30,000, Bangor is the third largest city in the state, the largest being Portland with about 65,000. The Bangor Mall wouldn't be considered large by some standards, but it is one of the largest ones in the state, although much smaller than the Maine Mall at Portland. It is the only actual mall in Bangor, although there are mini-malls everywhere. It used to bring people from hundreds of miles away. We have a camp more than two hundred miles north of Millinocket, which is about three hundred miles north of Bangor, and people would talk about going shopping in Bangor.
A nmber of large companies have disappeared from the scene. Way back Kresses was in many small and large town. they disappeared, but may still have Kress in Australia. TG&Y was once a regional little giant. It's gopne. Sears was king and had something many companies aspired to. They fell onto hard times and was finally bought by K-Mart who thought Sears name was more valuable than was K-Mart, changed the name to Sears Holding Company. For many years WhirlPool made Sear's appliances and they were among the best anywhere. Today they are in or near bankruptcy. They have closed many stores. Sam Walton built up an international giant with the Walmart and Sam's brands and along the way put thousands of smaller mom and pop storess out of business. Now Walmart is closing stores, building smaller neighborhood stores, trying to find a way to maintain a desired profit margin. Thay have yesterday announced the closing of sixty-three Sam's stores. A number oif these closing were immediate. Employees came to work yesaterday and were told the store was closed and going out of business, effective immediately. The rest will close in the next two or three weeks. Sam's will create from a dozen or so of these closing stores, shipping points to accomidate online shipping. Retail seems to be trending smaller in the U.S. and online shopping is getting greater. Malls are going bankrupt and I believe this trend will eventually do away with most malls. I guess it has always been a changing world and today we are witnessing more change that will affect many thousands of employees. The pendlelem may have begun to swing slowly in the other direction. Just a thought.
One of our favorites was G. C. Murphy, which had a store-front almost identical to Kresge's, and may actually have been owned by them. Frank
@Ken Anderson As the nation's biggest retailers became larger and larger, a fact I never pondered as a consumer, they became more "top-heavy" in the process, much like government. Eventually, the growth curve could no longer support the extravagant plans implemented for expansion of the business. Borrowed funds in unprecedentedly great amounts became payable, with insufficient income revenue to cover them. I started working for Sears in March, 1986, a part-time Maintenance job taken while I was undertaking the single largest building venture of my life: building a custom home by myself. By then, I had been unemployed for several years. Soon it became evident to me via rumor, announcement, common gossip, that Sears needed "help". It announced the sale of it's wholly-owned flagship Allstate Insurance, a monumentally-sized operation in itself. Then came Discover Card. Apparently Sears owned a controlling interest in that huge magnate. Thus, around 1990, it became clear the game was changing. Soon, Sears announced the introduction of a whole new division, the "Sears Homelife Stores". Those were large buildings located in well-known strip malls, and would cater to home furnishings exclusively. I was called upon to service problems, mechanical and electrical, showing up in the Homelifes, chiefly in Mesa, Arizona. Working there, I perceived in my mind that the operation there would fold within a few years. it did. The Homelife stores became an Albatross, beyond doubt. Sears Autocenters were yet another whole "ballgame". Perhaps some members here have experiences to tell of, related to them. Briefly stated, the Autocenters created monumental headaches for Sears. As an insider, working and travelling throughout Sears District 251, New Mexico, Arizona, S.W. Texas, and part of California, I heard and documented many things pointing to a "breaking point". I left Sears in 1998, receiving the munificent stipend of pension totaling $97 per month! It was time to go. My wife & I then underwent our second "drop-out" from the system in 1999, just prior to the dreaded "Y2K" predictions, which meant nothing to us. Frank
Sears, JC Penny and KMart are all on the way out. Hate to see KMart go, but oh well, Walmart is doing fine.