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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: mall

mall stories: 17 news summaries
bloodthirsty

 How Twilight 
 Rescued Hot Topic 

Goth retail mainstay is relevant again thanks to books, films

Nov 20, 09 11:34 AM CST
(Newser) - Like much of America, Ylan Q. Mui had forgotten all about Hot Topic, the mall mainstay for baby Goth merchandise—and then Twilight came along and made the store relevant again. The uber-popular vampire franchise “accomplished what the store had tried but failed to do: It made goth mainstream,... More »

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entertainment • retail • mall • vampire • Twilight • vampires • New Moon • Hot Topic • Jay-ZTV • shopping mall

 Disney Reinventing Stores 
 as 'Imagination Parks' 

Apple's expertise will help transform shopping into entertainment

Oct 13, 09 1:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - Disney has unveiled ambitious plans to bring the theme park to the shopping mall by turning its network of stores into interactive "Imagination Parks." The overhaul—designed using the expertise of Steve Jobs and his Apple Stores team—will cost some $1 million per store and focus... More »

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Steve Jobs • Walt Disney Co. • Apple • Pixar • Disney • mall • retail stores

 Toys R Us 
 Pumped Up 
 for Holiday 
 Offensive 

Chain plans to open 80 temporary stores in time for holiday shopping season

Sep 15, 09 1:28 AM CDT
(Newser) - Toys R Us is getting ready to go on the offensive in the battle for holiday sales, the Washington Post reports. The company—which snapped up the KB Toys and FAO Schwarz brands earlier this year—plans to open 80 temporary "Holiday Express" stores in malls across the country,... More »

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toys • Toys 'R' Us • mall • retail sales • holiday shopping • retail stores • Wal-Mart

 Recession, 
 Competition 
 Imperil Malls 

100 shopping centers could be 'dead' by year's end

May 22, 09 9:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - A half-century-old American standby is ailing as shopping malls around the country struggle to stay afloat, the Wall Street Journal reports. Same-store sales in shopping centers fell 6.5% in the year ending March 31, and the biggest mall operator has seen sales drop 7.3%. Some 100 malls could... More »

MORE ABOUT:
retail • recession • mall • Target • Wal-Mart • big-box retailers

 Shopping Mall Giant 
 Goes Bankrupt 

Second-largest U.S. mall owner can't refinance billions in debt

Apr 16, 09 7:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chicago-based General Growth Properties, the second-largest US shopping mall owner, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today after attempts to refinance more than $27 billion in debt failed, Bloomberg reports. The owner of more than 200 shopping malls owes a unit of Germany’s Commerzbank $2.6 billion, while bondholders are... More »

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bankruptcy • debt • bonds • mall • Standard and Poor • Chapter 11 • Commerzbank

Fire in Huge Bangladeshi
Mall Kills 1, Injures 20

Thousands flee blaze as 20 hospitalized

Mar 13, 09 9:03 AM CDT
(Newser) - A fire swept through Bangladesh's largest shopping mall today, killing a security guard, the AP reports. Some 10,000 shoppers poured outside the building and 20 were hospitalized, CNN notes. The blaze broke out on the 18th floor of the capital's 22-story Bashundhara City mall; flames spread to other floors... More »

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Bangladesh • mall • fire

(Newser) - Up and down the East coast, cash-strapped shoppers are trading in gold and silver, not at pawn shops, but at the mall, the Boston Globe reports. Merchants at kiosks buy the precious metals for less than half of market value, but customers are still pouring in. “It's certainly... More »

MORE ABOUT:
recession • mall • gold • jewelry • gold prices • financial crisis • economic downturn

Israeli Salesmen the Kings of the Mall Kiosk

Pushy vendors bring bazaar-culture to holiday shopping

Dec 3, 08 2:20 PM CST
(Newser) - Chances are that shopping-mall cart vendor offering you spa lotions or whimsical toys this Christmas season is an Israeli transplant who knows how to hustle and haggle. Cart owners avoid hiring shyer Americans because "Israelis are natural-born closers," said one marketing director, and they're edging out other Turkish,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
mall • holiday shopping • Israelis • Christmas shopping

Shoppers Can't Halt Commercial Mortgage Crisis

Retailers will default, no matter how many sweaters you buy today

Nov 28, 08 9:02 AM CST
(AP) - Black Friday shoppers hunting for holiday bargains won't be enough to stave off what's likely to become the next economic crisis. Malls from Michigan to Georgia are entering foreclosure, commercial victims of the same events poisoning the housing market. Hotels in Tucson, Ariz., and Hilton Head, SC, also are about... More »

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foreclosure • credit crisis • mall • retail sales • holiday shopping • commercialism • mortgage defaults • financial crisis

GLOSSIES

Seeking Xanadu, Shopping Malls Find Purgatory Instead

Waning consumerism, economic downturn take toll on uniquely American institution

Nov 14, 08 4:28 PM CST
(Newser) - An American institution—the shopping mall—is slouching toward extinction, Newsweek reports. With a record number of retail outlets, including ubiquitous Gap and Foot Locker, planning closures, roughly 20% of the 2,000 largest malls are failing, says one professor, leaving the fate of developing mega-malls like New Jersey’s... More »

MORE ABOUT:
retail • consumer confidence • mall • retail shopping • financial crisis

 Like, Get Inked at the Mall! 

Chain-store tattoo parlors aim for a mainstream crowd

Oct 28, 08 10:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Now that piercings have become passé mall culture is taking on a new taboo: tattoos. With several chain parlors springing up at shopping centers across the country, the intrepid can now get inked in homogenized comfort by salaried artists with 401(k) plans—a radical departure from the traditional tattoo scene... More »

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tattoos • mall • tattoo parlors • tattoo artists

Overbuilding Leaves Malls Under-Occupied

Retail space glut likely to well outlast current economic slowdown

Sep 10, 08 10:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - A decade of rapid expansion by developers and an increase in store closings has created a glut of space in malls that could persist for years, the Wall Street Journal reports. “There were a lot of projects that shouldn't have been built” during the past decade, the CEO of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Home Depot • mall • retailing • commercial real estate • DeBartolo Development

Commercial
Real Estate Will Slow, Not Tank

Malls, offices won't be hit nearly as hard as housing, experts say

Mar 10, 08 9:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - The commercial real estate market has slowed dramatically, but won’t rival the housing implosion, reports the Wall Street Journal. Prices will likely fall just 20%, compared with 40%-plus for homes in some markets, and commercial property owners—unlike record numbers of homeowners facing foreclosure—have largely been able to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
foreclosure • recession • US economy • credit crisis • mall • real estate values • housing crisis • commercial real estate

Omaha Mall Reopens
Under Heavy Security

Van Maur store, where the shooter opened fire, remains closed

Dec 8, 07 12:35 PM CST
(Newser) - The Omaha mall where 19-year-old Robert Hawkins unleashed his killing spree re-opened for business today under tighter security, the AP reports. “I came in here and I was wondering how I would feel about it,” the mayor said, “but I feel fine.” The Von Maur store... More »

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murder-suicide • Omaha • Nebraska • mall • holiday shopping • Omaha mall shooting • mall shooting • Robert Hawkins • mall security

In the Ashes of Apartheid, a Shopping Mall

Mandela marks opening of huge mall in once-
impoverished Soweto

Sep 27, 07 3:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Nelson Mandela cut a ribbon today to mark the opening of a massive shopping mall in Soweto, the Johannesburg township that was the center of the struggle against apartheid, and his own home before he went to prison. The Maponya Mall, with 200 shops and an eight-screen theater, is the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
South Africa • apartheid • Nelson Mandela • mall • Soweto • Johannesburg • Maponya Mall

China's Malls Beg for Shoppers

China’s mall
explosion may mimic
US mortgages

Aug 28, 07 1:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - The malls keep going up in China, but the number of mallrats isn't keeping up with them. Indications abound of retail real-estate bubble, the Christian Science Monitor reports, but warnings to banks about loaning to malls aren’t halting new construction. Consumption is only 37% of Chinese output—half the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • inflation • real estate • Prada • shopping • mall

Mexican Meth Mogul Nabbed in Mall Restaurant

Chinese-born fugitive doesn't get to finish his codfish, DEA says

Jul 25, 07 1:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - A reputed Mexican drug lord known for his flamboyant lifestyle and vast supply of cash fell into the hands of the DEA Monday in a decidedly unglamorous setting: a suburban Maryland mall. Zhenli Ye Gon faces charges under US drug laws, the Washington Post reports, and Mexico wants him extradited.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Mexico City • Mexico • drug trafficking • Mexican drug war • Drug Enforcement Administration • methamphetamine • Zhenli Ye Gon • mall

17 Stories


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