Dan Bell- the Dead Malls video guy- Ted Talk

For any of you who are fans of Ted Talks or Dead Malls, this is worth your time.  On one hand, we have Dan, a filmmaker who lost his desire to film.  On the other hand, we have a weird and huge trend in the U.S., the "dead malls."  For those who don't know, dead malls are malls that have either closed and are in some state of deterioration, or malls that are struggling to stay alive with few stores left in them. 

As I mentioned in the last post, my walk through a dead mall a month ago got me really looking into the issue of America's retail shop collapse.  This is happening all over the country and the world.  Dan gives his impressions above.  I have just written a 24 page, self-published, funny zine about ways to use all that empty space in dead malls and abandoned buildings.  You can get a copy here:

43 Ideas To Reuse Dead Malls zine

3,500 + retail stores closed or closing

Normally I don't embed videos from You Tube channels like this, but this guy sums up what's happening in a few minutes.  There are now over 3,500 retail stores closed or closing in the U.S. soon.  When I started looking into this issue a month ago, the number was just over 3,000.  This is a big deal.  Is this the end pf the world that religious nut jobs have been predicting for the last 20 years or so?  No.  Is this the end of the world?  But it IS a real big deal.

MALLPOCALYPSE.  Malls across the U.S. have been dying a slow death for years.  The Oak Hollow Mall in Highpoint, North Carolina, about 15 miles from where I live, just closed down a month ago.  Walking through that mall a week before it closed is what got me looking into this issue.  No one has exact numbers, but generally speaking, 400 of the 1,200 enclosed malls in the U.S. have either closed, or are expected to close in the next few years.  And that's if we DON'T go into a recession.

What does this mean to you?  1) If you work in retail, look up your employer and see how they look long term.  It might be time for a career change.  Thousands are already losing their jobs.  Personally, I think we're teetering on the edge of a recession, and it could be a serious one.  Get your act together financially as best you can.  We still don't know what this massive amount of store closings will lead to.