Economists (or anyone else) - Stores & Restaurants Closing. What Does It Mean?

dilettante said:
Sure, that's a huge part of it.

It just doesn't say anything helpful. At least unless you are proposing some alternative... like government seizure of production, imports, distribution, and retail including all of the infrastructure those require. Giant grey government-run "Costcos" where you get your teeth yanked, hair cut, "medical" treatment, not to mention your weekly ration pack.

Due to its enormous popularity, Soylent Green is in short supply so remember - Tuesday is Soylent Green day.
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To try to list the multiple reasons chancing missing a reason didn't make sense to me. Going for the root cause made more sense.

As for Soylent Green, the quality has changed. Due to the quantity of obese people the old dry form has been replaced by the new more flavorful deep fat fried.
 

When it comes to the closing/failure of many small business startups it can be a sign of a great economy with money to invest and easy access to credit but poor management and business ability of the people chasing their dream of opening their own business.

I would be more concerned with mass layoffs, tightening of consumer credit, etc…

We’ve had about a dozen recessions in my lifetime and I‘ve managed to weather them all.

The worst for me were 1987 and 2007.

The question is what to do in order to prepare for them and ride them out at each phase of our lives.

I feel fortunate that I don’t have to be concerned about losing a job or changing careers.

The good news for most people our age is that we have a relatively safe and secure source of income.

About all we can do is not panic, stay debt free, and keep a little cash on hand.

The sun will come up tomorrow! 😉
 
Ours all started closing some years ago. We've lost so many stores, particularly Department stores, and chains, and shoe shops... ( the UK generally) .. and in their place we got Pounds shops and their equivalent,... cheap discount stores.. coffee shops galore, restaurants .... nail Salons Galore.. but try buying a nice dress.. or a childs' school uniform... or decent shoes..not the cheap stuff that supermarkets sell.. but quality items.. an evening dress.. a wedding suit......or quality furniture

You really have to travel far and wide, because almost all the stores that would have sold them have gone into administration...
 

hollydolly said:
and in their place we got Pounds shops and their equivalent,... cheap discount stores.. coffee shops galore, restaurants .... nail Salons Galore..
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Sadly even those are going out of business here these days. Many places lost their local shops to chains a long time ago and as the chains fold their tents many communities are left with little or nothing.

But the media tell us the economy is booming!
 
Stores and Restaurants closing means none of us have disposable cash like we used to. Everyone is reaching the breaking point. People don't have that spare coin for dining out or entertainment anymore.
 
Los Angeles and the surrounding areas continue to be awash in restaurants, from high end restaurants to Mom & Pops to cheap fast food. They've always come and gone, but the big FF chains rarely go out of business. Same appears to be true when I travel around.

I've read sad(?) tales of California FF owners complaining that with the raise in FF minimum wage, they and their family members have actually had to work behind the counters themselves (rather than hiring others to do so while the owners mostly pluck cash from the money trees these places have been).

My attitude? Cry me a river, sweetheart. MOST small business operators put in more time working at their companies than their employees do. It was certainly true for me, and for friends with small businesses of every stripe.
 
When I first moved to this neighborhood, I was happy to find that there was a Michael's (craft store) nearby. My second visit there I didn't see the color of yarn in the brand I wanted. I noticed a sign that said "we have four times as much yarn online."

I looked at their online site and the selection was indeed four times larger than the in person store. So now I buy online. I buy the amount of stuff, I just buy online.

If the selection was equal, I would support the local store. But the difference in what is available is pretty big.
 
I think that the inflation of just about everything has stopped many people from spending money that they would have spent before . We used to go out and have breakfast at ihop about once each month, but we have not been there but maybe 2-3 times since last winter. Food costs more, plus ihop has lowered the hours they are open, some days closing by 2PM, and some days not even open at all.
Several good (and affordable) restaurants that we used to have in this area have closed completely, or just never re-opened after the covid closings.

More and more people are only buying what is necessary, and not the little things we used to buy just for enjoyment, and this has caused more businesses to have to either close completely, or scale back, like ihop did.
Now, they are talking about federal control of pricing, which will be even worse. If businesses are not going to make any kind of a profit, they will be forced to close, and even more people will be out of a job, and the food (or other items) will not be available because the supplier had to close up The business.


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It's been a boon to real estate gentrifiers here though. They are picking up entire blocks of vacant storefronts, crowding anyone left out through higher taxes and restricted customer parking. They they raze the entire thing and put in multistory luxury apartments.

Small towns are being gutted and residents off the former main drag have to drive 30 miles or more to megamarts for everything.
 
dilettante said:
It's been a boon to real estate gentrifiers here though. They are picking up entire blocks of vacant storefronts, crowding anyone left out through higher taxes and restricted customer parking. They they raze the entire thing and put in multistory luxury apartments.

Small towns are being gutted and residents off the former main drag have to drive 30 miles or more to megamarts for everything.
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Seems a shame to me.
 
NYT 8/15/24 - "The company said on Thursday that sales at Walmart stores in the United States rose just over 4 percent, to $115.3 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. Its U.S. e-commerce business jumped 22 percent.

Many see Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, as a gauge for how American consumers are faring. Ninety percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store."

NYT 8/15/24 - "Retail sales in July came in above expectations, the government reported on Thursday, painting an optimistic picture of consumer spending that could ease concerns about the strength of the economy.

The better-than-expected results, pointing to continued economic sturdiness, drove stocks higher. The S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent, its sixth daily gain in a row. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose even more.

Retail sales increased 1 percent in July from the previous month, the Commerce Department said, well above the 0.4 percent rise that economists were expecting. A bounce-back in auto sales as cyberattack-related disruptions faded probably intensified the jump in overall retail sales, analysts said. But sales excluding autos and gasoline, a calculation that can be more indicative of spending trends, also beat expectations, rising 0.4 percent."
 
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Fat cats living high on the hog are not the entire story though.

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

The Swing-State Economic Realities Shaping the US Election

For all the turbulence that has shaken the US presidential contest this summer, voters have been consistent in saying the economy is their top election issue. But the economy that matters most isn’t national: It’s in the seven swing states poised to decide the race.

In the so-called Blue Wall industrial states — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — where the political stakes are now highest, the combined growth from 2019 to the end of 2023 was just a third of that seen outside swing states, once you adjust for inflation and population increases.

But the mixed picture in swing states underscores a hard truth for the party: National data may point to a healthy US economy, but voters’ perceptions of it are heavily shaped by conditions on the ground where they live.

Most battleground states more acutely felt the recent surge in the cost of living. States like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have lagged the nation in their recoveries from the 2020 recession.

All but one of the battlegrounds have seen slower annual real per capita growth since 2019 than they did in the two years prior...
 
againstthegrain said:
Data vs perceptions..............hmmmmm.

All the "fat cats" shop at Wal-mart..........:sleep:
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I do feel like individual perception are a significant factor. People who are not doing well financially will think the economy is horrible. People who are doing okay will think the economy is doing okay.

And by doing okay, I am not referring to just fat cats. I am thinking of people who have income at or above the median for where they live.

I know some people like to split the world into people struggling financially and the rich, but there are quite a few people in between.
 
sales at Walmart stores in the United States rose just over 4 percent, to $115.3 billion, beating analysts’ estimates. Its U.S. e-commerce business jumped 22 percent.

Many see Walmart, the largest retailer in the United States, as a gauge for how American consumers are faring. Ninety percent of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart store."

Based on these facts it's seems like the kitchen tables are covered w food and junk from China. Sorry your "feelings' don't match up w reality.
 
I buy most of my clothing for dancing from Nonib, a upmarket type of women’s only clothing ( I only buy t shirt types of top with a tiny bit of bling ) and jersey fabric skirts…. nothing fancy just nicer than your average day to day clothing .
However the quality of the fabric in their garments has deteriorated I might as well go to Millers and buy skirts for $20.00 rather than pay $120.00 for Theirs ( millers is a every day clothing range of women’s clothing, it’s owned by the same corporation as Nonib ) Millers , Rivers , Susan .

Other shoppers must feel the same about their poor quality garments as many of their shops have now closed , in fact it’s hard to find a nonib store anymore , they used to be in every major shopping centre
 
KathyB1968 said:
I do feel like individual perception are a significant factor. People who are not doing well financially will think the economy is horrible. People who are doing okay will think the economy is doing okay.

And by doing okay, I am not referring to just fat cats. I am thinking of people who have income at or above the median for where they live.

I know some people like to split the world into people struggling financially and the rich, but there are quite a few people in between.
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Of course people are struggling, they always have and they always will. Confusing the state of the economy w one's own personal situation doesn't make it reality. However, according to the data people are continuing to spend money so a few closings here and there is not an accurate reflection of the actual state of the economy.

I've said it before the economy is fine; it's the allocation of profit that is at issue today. Money is being made hand over fist w the workers, as always, getting a VERY minimal piece of the pie. And the owners of capitol are making out like bandits further assisted by the tax code they've bought and paid for.
 
KathyB1968 said:
I do feel like individual perception are a significant factor. People who are not doing well financially will think the economy is horrible. People who are doing okay will think the economy is doing okay.

And by doing okay, I am not referring to just fat cats. I am thinking of people who have income at or above the median for where they live.

I know some people like to split the world into people struggling financially and the rich, but there are quite a few people in between.
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I agree, we all tend to see what we choose to see.
 

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