The Changing Phase in Shopping Centers

Here in Greensboro our main two shopping areas are Friendly Shopping Center and Four Seasons Town Centre. Over the past few years one has been hit hard with economic times and one has been steadily increasing. Our mall is on a downward slope into non-existence. There have been several different owners and managers which could have helped in the unstable business handling. I remember when going to mall was all I would do on a Saturday. Now with an increase in crime and decrease in stores at the mall it has seen a significant drop in sales. More and more stores are leaving the mall and going to outdoor shopping centers in our case like Friendly Shopping Center. More "living centers" as they are called are being built in all major cities. These centers include shopping, dining as well as living. They are convenient for one store shopping and a great place to go on a beautiful day or night for a stroll. If this switch in shopping is happening in little ol' Greensboro you can imagine that it is happening in other larger cities.

Just today the second largest mall corporation company filed for bankruptcy. This should be a wake up call for retailers. With many stores not being able to pay mall rent because of decline in their business they were forced out of the malls, which left big gaps in some peoples shopping. Who wants to go to a beautiful mall where at almost every other store front you see a gate pulled down? It's not appealing shopping. This has forced those shoppers to relocate to other centers. General Growth company has been back and forth trying to get out of debt but with more stores leaving and less shopping it has finally become an unrealistic task to get out of debt. Over 1500 malls in the US still remain, however they are now forced to look at what to do to bring in business? With spring and summer soon approaching more and more people spend their time dining and shopping outside. 

With more and more retailers going out of business it is truly a wake up call and realization for where our economy is at now. And if this continues I feel that we will see more malls going under because they can not withstand the economic times. With living centers being the most popular thing, more malls are looking at renovating to save themselves. Malls such as Southpoint in Durham have an outdoor appeal indoors, with nice restaurants that border the mall and some shopping outside you get the best of both worlds! 

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/general-growth-properties-files-for-bankruptcy/?hp

Are we Letting OUr Food Safety Go?

Now more and more often we hear on the news and radio about disease caused from food. Why is this? The policies and procedures that are required by the FDA just aren't enough anymore and more and more food born disease are affecting Americans and many others. We are throwing our money away by not properly inspecting food, With the huge peanut butter outbreak million of products were recalled and returned to stores and vendors. After that cleared up now pistachios are being recalled. Most of the problem are coming from where the foods are being grown, health is not closely monitored, production is done way too quickly forgetting about one of the most important parts of it. During the production line companies are trying to produce too much at one time, which leaves thousands of food particles open in the air and susceptible to contamination. If we continue to let our food suffer and poison our bodies, what will be next?

Peanut butter, meat, pistachios, baby food, cleaning products, etc. The list keeps getting longer and longer, where do we draw the line for safety and inspection? In addition to all the food recalls the amount of baby products that have been recalled in the recent years is astounding. From cribs to toys i feel like someone is not doing their job to thoroughly inspect the products that we are turning around and resales. Once there is a recall on a product, depending upon the size of it can completely destroy and company.

Over 76 million citizens suffer from food borne illnesses every year and with that amount nearly 5,000 die from it because it goes unnoticeable or is untreatable. Many people can help themselves by being cautious. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before eating or handling food. When cooking with eggs, meat, etc make sure you wash your area very well with a disinfectant and try not to use the same sponge or cloth to clean with that you use to wash your dishes. IN addition if we all take notice of our food it would help alot also. Don't eat anything that has been previously opened or doesn't have a seal, and check the color and smell of a product in addition to the expiration date. There are a hand full of things that we can do to protect ourselves, however I feel that more should be done with the FDA and Agriculture department to inspect foods before allowing them to reach the shelves.

New CEO for News Corp

At announced today there will be a new man in charge at News Corp. It is the former executive CEO of AOL. How will this benefit the company and how impressive was his resume for getting the job? Mr. Miller the former CEO of AOL has done many things will his techno career. First off I remember how booming AOL used to be. Everyone had to have instant messenger set up and it was just as addicting as Facebook and Myspace are now. Mr. Miller will be in charge of Myspace, Photobucket, and other joint-ventures with NBC Universal. His name will once again shine. Myspace has recently been in a downward fall since the boom of Facebook and Twitter. Myspace started to get too much scandal from creepy people stalking younger members of the website and then when Facebook opened up to accept anyone even if they were not associated with a school their members sored will Myspace fell off. Then comes Twitter which a lot of people haven't caught onto yet but it is the very same as status updates on either website. This allows you to keep to up with celebrities and other people who you may not be able to as easily with other providers.

Mr. Miller has a lot to handle coming into his position but with experience with MTV and Nickalodeon he should have no problems completely the task at hand. I am interested and excited to see what he may bring to the company and MySpace. I know for myself i never check my account anymore, I'm only on facebook because I got too burnt out on Myspace. Maybe Mr. Miller can bring back other people like myself who have wondered to other providers. However this may be a challenge for him as well seeing as how AOL has fallen dramatically with the increase in other providers. I remember only having an AOL account, and the annoying dial up that you had to wait for in order to get on the Internet. Now yahoo and google has skyrocketed with their email accounts and offerings. I am wondering if Myspace and other joint companies will have issues or decline with Mr. Miller in charge now. They need to come up with innovative ideas to keep up the times.

Housing market is back in Business!

Recently many of Americans have been forced out of their homes due to foreclosures with record numbers in job losses and a downfall in the economy. Finally we are starting to see some relief and encouragement that better times are coming. In February there was a 5% increase in established home sales. Why you may ask? People are jumping on the low, low prices that are being offered to buyers. Many houses have cut their profits just to get out from under their payments, or they have decided to downsize. Many people are being foreclosed houses and with the little that they invest in them they have more money to spend on fixing them up how they want it, which will also create higher revenue for stores such as PotteryBarn, Pier 1 and Home Depot who have all also been affective buy the economy. Many banks are slowly getting out of the mess that they were in which is allowing people to be able to receive loans. However the loans are a lot harder to receive now, so you need to be completely qualified to receive one. Banks are making sure that the people they are letting loan out money is good for so that they can prevent future foreclosed houses and losses for the bank. With President Obama's help with refinancing rates and loans for home buyers it has also helped people save on their payments.
Overall with lower rates and extra incentives for buying people now spend their days driving around new areas or looking online for a future home. The bracket that has seen the most increase was the houses that are priced under $200,000 however the greatest saving are sometimes the larger houses that the owners can't afford anymore and they are taking a big cut on the overall price. Also there is a $8000 tax deduction for new home buyer which is incentive enough for going to purchase a new house if you were planning to do so soon. The deduction is similar to the one previously offered however this deduction does not have to be paid back while the other does over a 15 year period of time. With the housing market on a rise hopefully the economy will receive a domino effect and allow the spending to contribute to other markets such as restaurants, shopping, etc which will pull the economy back up. Now is the time to buy with very low rates and lower prices on houses, it is truly a buyers market... but maybe not for long!


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/business/24econ.html?hp

Has the Economy Hit Rock Bottom?

With almost every headline on the news being about the housing market and the stock market are low in addition to the millions of jobs that are being lost everyday people begin to wonder have we hit the bottom yet? In that past few weeks we have noticed an increase in the stock market and several banks and establishment not needing extra bail out money, but is that enough? How do we know or is there a way to know when our economy is at its worst times. Many people agree there is no way to know for sure. It is a combination of things and i feel that the way our economy is it could be worse. Like during the great depression people were rationed food and supplies. We are so use to having everything and having it all at our fingertips that when it doesn't happen that way we can't stand it. No we may not be able to lead a luxury lifestyle but we still have family and basic necessities, people need to get back to the basics.
I think that a lot of consumer shock is based from the news. Every night there are stories about people loosing their jobs, the crisis we are in, and how bad things are. Yes we want to know what is going on but i think it scares people more than informs them. When they keep hearing that our economy is so bad they cling on to what they have and don't go out and spend which creates a recession. The housing market is slowly starting to come back up as people realize that it is a great time to buy buy rates are super low. However it is harder to get a loan because the banks are being so closing watched. This downturn of events has been churning for some time now It could have maybe been better predicted and better handled but it wasn't so now we are stuck here trying to get out of it. But i know one thing approving stimulus packages which gets us in more debt is not going to help. There is no immediate fix which is what I think people are looking for, it's going to take time and effort from every American. We should focus on creating more jobs, which would give people money that they can put back into the economy buy spending it. I think its ridiculous the amount of people on welfare and support systems, they are there when people really need help but I feel that they are too often abused and people get comfortable with getting their money check instead of trying harder to better themselves. I would be great if there was a way to allow anyone who wanted to work a job and not a government issued check.
Many saw that the stock market is the first thing to show hard times, well it has been back and forth lately. So I don't think there is any true way of knowing when we have hit the bottom I just know that many people have seen harder times then what we are experiencing now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/weekinreview/15vikas.html?pagewanted=2

A Slow Down in America

Many Americans are known for working long extensive hours or working more than one job. And it is now common to not a have a Monday through Friday 9-5 job, but people work more weekends and more nights. Recently mainly employers have cut days during the work week whether it be cutting a Friday or cutting the hours in a shift per day. This cut in hours is to allow many people to still keep their job but to help with other cuts for the company. They don't have to worry about the cost of being open for the day or worry about having to pay the employees for that day. So yes it is a cut in income but is having an extra day such a bad thing? Americans rely so much on daycare and nannies to watch and teach their kids. And many adults spend too much time in the work place that they completely miss out on their kids growing up. And its not just about parents and children, but also other relationships. When you work all the time you have less time with other family whether it be with your parents or siblings, etc and less time with you husband or boyfriend or trying to find one. I feel that it is very important to take time for myself and set my priorities in order. EVERYONE needs *ME* time. After the recent cuts that employers have made it has been proven that employees have decreased stress and anger. However on the the other hand some have increased those issues because it is now that much harder to pay the bills.
Bottom line we only live once and who wants to look back on their life and only be able to remember how much they worked and how they missed out on so many events and missed out on time with family and friends. Time is also looked upon as wealth and it is important for people to make time to do things that make the happy. In another article that i read a Russian professor predicted that the US would collapse by 2010. And that it would divide into 6 parts. I must say it was a little disturbing to read this however, no one knows what will happy with the country that we live in. With economic times as they are and the rise in crime no one knows what will happen but everyone should be able to look back and say i tried and more importantly i was happy. To me happiness is more important than money and status. What ever happened to the "American Dream" of owning a home and having a family, etc. Its gone! I think we are at a time where we as Americans need to reevaluate our priorities and get back to basics!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/weekinreview/01dewan.html?pagewanted=1

http://www.rr.com/news/politics/article/9002/7049934/Russian_scholar_says_US_will_collapse___next_year

Obama's plan to Pull out troops

One of the main topics all over the newspaper and tv today was how Obama plans to get the troops out of Iraq. Now as most of us remember one of the main differences during the presidential raises was that Obama wanted the troops out a.s.a.p. which raised a lot of questions to Americans as far as if that was the best move or now. With his address being made in NC and being from a military family I took a strong interest in his speech. I am happy to learn that the troops will be pulled out of Iraq and not as quickly as people thought but the way he is handling it is better overall. We have spent too much time in Iraq, too much money and risked too many lives. Pulling out the troops within the next year will allow the military to finish the purpose for going to that country in the first place. I feel that the troops need to be home and they have done their time in Iraq. But is what we first went there completely finished? Have we captured the men that plotted the 9/11 attacks? If we pull out our troops will that show signs of weakness and will open us up for more terrorist attacks? Many of questions begin to arise especially with the talks of closing Guantanamo Bay and what may happen to some of the prisoners there. Many people questions our involvement in this war in the first place. i feel that America could not just sit back and let terrorist destroy the landmarks and peoples lives like they did and let it go unnoticed. However i do feel that it is time to pull out troops. One of my main concerns is the fact that the President will be withdrawing several thousands troops but leaving some to tie up the lose ends. Will that put those military people in danger?

With the economy the way it is, we do not need to be spending money fighting a war. I do not agree with a lot of Obama's views on the military such as cutting housing, medical and other benefits to military families, but i do feel that an end to this war is long overdue. With the shortage of jobs that we have now and with bringing home all the troops that are fighting the war with it create an even bigger job shortage? Many questions still need to be figured out, but all I know is as of August 2010 many welcome home banners should be flying high.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/washington/26troops.html?scp=6&sq=Obama&st=cse

MySpace

After looking through different articles in the New York Times, i found this one very appealing. There is a photo of an older gentleman and it is one of the creators of MySpace. To my surprise the guy looked a lot older then i would have imagined. He has created such a large communication portal mainly for what started off for younger people. In this article it discusses how his father always influenced him to think outside the box, and with the creation of MySpace i think he did. MySpace came around in a time when technology was on the rise. And he was able to create a product in an area that had a gap. At the time most people had telephones for communication and some professionals had profiles for business, etc but there wasn't a place to go and allow you to be able to almost create yourself on a profile and share it with the world. His part Tom Anderson (we all know him as Tom), have worked hard it creating and keeping up one of the leading Internet communication sites.

I remember when i got my MySpace account and how i would spend hours and hours adding songs, changing the background, the profile information and adding pictures. I was so addicted that a few times i had to cancel my account because it was distracting me so much that i wasn't dong my school work. I wanted to update my profile all the time, and then check out my friends profiles to see what they adding to theirs. it was INSANE the amount of time that was spent on MySpace. As most good companies do, MySpace grew rapidly, then it got to the point where it was running slow, and creeping people were on their and they were always doing maintenance for the site. It began to get very annoying, then started my Facebook account. I now check facebook my than myspace. Recently i watched a movie where they discussed how Myspace was the new bootycall, and that you have to check so many portals when you are trying to get in touch with people. We all have several email account, Myspace, facebook, texting,etc. Like it was stated in the movie in order to update your image you don't go get your hair done, you update your profile. We are such a techno world where everything is online. I am interested to see how the creators of Myspace or someone else will take communication to the next level in the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/22/jobs/22boss.html?_r=1

Microsoft to Open Retail Stores

When I first read this Highlight in the New York Times, I was thinking what in the world is Microsoft doing? As bad as economic times are right now Microsoft is going to begin designing and opening several retail stores. They hired an executive from Wal-Mart to oversee the project. The stores will offer their products such as Zunes, Xboxs and software as well as technical support.
My first response to opening these stores was how are they going to compete with Apple? Apple has such a variety of products and has done an amazing job with the design and overall feel of their retail stores. When you go to an Apple store its an experience. Is Microsoft going to be able to compete with that? They are a very successful company but not one that I can imagine being entertaining and eventful when visiting their store. Another key point was hiring an executive from Wal-Mart. Why? The company is very successful but definitely is not known for their amazing floor layouts or creative displays. I am interested to see how he will be able to take the knowledge and experience and transfer it to Microsoft. I do think that a Microsoft store has a chance of being successful if designed and managed correctly. They are some people who need help understanding new advances in computer systems. If they had an area for help and training i think it would influence more people to learn and be more familiar with everything that a computer can do. I will be interested to see where they choose to place the Microsoft store based off of the demographics and what the stores will offer. I found it very interesting that they were considering bringing back the little paperclip that used to pop up for Microsoft help and placing the character in the stores. I think it's a creative move not necessarily a successful move. I will be interested to follow up on this article and see what advances in the line of the products that they will carry and what types of services the stores will offer. They will definitely have major competition with Apple.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/will-clippy-be-a-greeter-at-microsofts-new-stores/?scp=1&sq=microsoft%20window%20shopping&st=cse

Hilary Duff with DKNY

It has recently been released that Hilary Diff will be pairing with the jeans company DKNY to create her own line of clothing. There will be a select amount of garments created based off of the stars' personal style preferences. It was not yet discussed about the pricing of the garments and as to which stores would carry the styles. She is making a move in the footsteps of other celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Sarah Jessica Parker, Pete Wentz, etc that have taken their fame and tied it together with fashion.

This is a positive for most celebs that branch out, however some just lend their name without truly backing the company while other take full charge with designs. Hilary is in the direct target of another designer Taylor Swift. Both celebrities will be targeting the same age group and the same style of the consumers. Hilary Duff is established in many ways through television, movies, and singing. Now fashion designing will be added to her resume. I think that this is a positive business move for her. If priced and designed right it could open up several other doors for her in the future. What I find appealing is that most of her styles are designed to be versatile so that consumers truly get their money out of their purchase. With the economy in the slump that it is currently in, any help from designers is greatly appreciated from both younger consumers and parents. Hilary's designs each can be worn at least two different ways in addition to pairing them other with other garments. For example the jeans can be worn with a skinny belt or regular belt and it has belt loops to fit both. Your belt width can change the style of your outfit, other items include several styles of sweaters and jeans. I will be interested to follow up and see how successful the line will be when it hits stores in late Fall. However I am a little optimistic seeing that to my age group I don't feel like she appeals to us as much as she does a younger generation. Even though her age is roughly the same as mine, her music videos are becoming more mature, the majority of her work has been targeted to a younger crowd. Only her designs will tell who her true consumers will be.

The Down Fall of the Economy

Recently all that has been discussed in the news is the stimulus package for the economy. Now that it has been passed what does that mean for us? It was amazing to me that some Democrats had a split decision about the bill yet all the Republicans were against it. For me I wonder why. Why it this bill that is trying to get passed not astonishing everyone where they are all for it? I personally feel like this particular stimulus package is not going to have the positive effects that the president thinks it will. The country has to be getting this money from somewhere, yet we are going to notice tax cuts based off this bill? Jobs will be created with the money for schools, construction and parks. Those are all great places to invest money, but how many times do we really need to repave a road? I feel that the money could have been used for a variety of other things. For example create and discover sites for off shore drilling. This would create jobs for the research, drilling, maintaining, etc. The US would not be so dependant on other countries for oil, we would create jobs, and maybe in the long run countries would begin to look towards us for oil production. Another way to spend the money would be to discover and research more ways to become eco-friendly. Another words we need to invest the money better where we will benefit in the long run instead of creating more debt for our children and grandchildren to deal with.

After reading this article it became even more apparent to me the crisis that we are in, business laying off thousands of jobs, not ordering supplies, cutting cost where they can, interest rates are lower, and the employment rate keeps rising. Its like we are up against a wall, and just need to somehow break through it. I work in retail and have personally noticed how the ordering has been less than usual. After Christmas we have had Ipods, Blu-Ray players and other electronics all on back order from the manufacturers however we haven't placed any orders to replenish or shelves. The demand is not great enough to order more items. There has been an increase in coupon shoppers as well as an increase in returns on items that they may not use or need anymore. We US companies are not placing orders for merchandise that also affects other countries that supply the manufacturing for these items. Based off the article imports and exports have both been strongly effected by the down slope of the economy. Not only is the housing market still suffering but it branches of to home goods stores, home repair and home decor shops that are suffering as well because people no longer have the disposable income to redo their home or make any changes.

We are definitely in a recession, its just a matter of how long we will continue in this downward fall, and continue to have an increase in unemployment, debt and depression of Americans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/business/economy/31econ.html?_r=1&hp