Betty by Gary Delainey and Gerry Rasmussen for November 08, 2023

At least you got good exercise traipsing around the mall. Not so much with internet shopping!

Certain things, like shoes, are difficult to shop for online. I prefer being able to see clothing and shoes in real life and try on.

I used to really enjoy going to the mall. Let’s face it. Their wares are meant for younger patrons so I have lost interest. There is also the crime problem even in my sleepy conservative community.

I don’t think the internet is totally to blame for their problems. Like another poster said, there are items that I need to see and inspect before purchasing.

Retailers need to adapt if they want to stay in business. For instance, I think many of them could offer to order items for their patrons. It would help avoid the risks of online shopping. The patron could pick it up or have it delivered at their convenience thus thwarting the porch pirates.

I think there’s some role reversal here. Most guys want to go to a store, buy something, go home, watch the game.

True that. Would love to have teleporters real. Save that 2 day drive in the fall and spring.

Don’t live in a big city anymore, do teens still “cruise” the malls?

Internet shopping is to malls what malls were to main street shops. Now, sadly, the malls are replaced by the blight of strip malls. Getting away into the countryside on a state highway used to be a pleasant drive. However, the strip mall developers have turned the outskirts of all the small towns into strip mall hell.

I had the starter cord break on my leaf blower about two weeks ago. It’s a backpack model, runs great, but the cord has broken three times before and I’ve retied it each time. Unfortunately, it had become so frayed that was no longer an option, and the spring-loaded pulley is integrated to the engine cover in such a way that makes it difficult to replace just the cord. Local stores don’t stock such things, anyway. And so, standing in my yard, broken pull cord in hand, I ordered a new engine cover on my phone (for less than $30) and it came 3 days later. A half hour later, I had a running machine again. Try finding something like that at your local mall.

I still go to the mall…

Malls stopped being interesting when the stores all began to sell the same stuff. (different stores, different labels but the same products.) And, as was mentioned in another comment, everything sold in those stores seemed targeted toward younger people. Teenagers might have been hanging out at the malls, but they weren’t necessarily spending.

About the only to visit the local mall now is to have a safe place to walk in bad weather.

The irony is that Betty and Bub live a block away from #WEM.

Earlier this year I was housebound for several months, so had to do all my shopping on line and have it delivered. I was so glad to get my mobility back and be able to choose my own groceries again!

Will that be on the SAT?