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.