Good afternoon,
We ventured out on Black Friday for lunch and drove past the Route 1 entrance to the retail destination along I-95.
The temporary sign at the mall exit on Route 1 announced that the parking lot was full. This did not stop hundreds of drivers from making their way into the mall area.
It was a marked contrast to the summer and fall. At those times, Christiana’s parking lot was so devoid of vehicles that a circus was able to set up shop.
An aerial photo that made the rounds of Facebook illustrated the degree of gridlock, although blowing up the image revealed a few open spaces at the mall itself and additional parking at the Fashion Center.
Walking to the mall from the Fashion Center would have been a difficult and a potentially dangerous undertaking with the Black Friday onslaught in full force.
The parking snarl proved one thing – some malls are not anywhere close to dying.
Instead, the business has come down to a few winners and many losers.
Christiana Mall is clearly a winner, although Friday ’s situation was influenced by changes taking place in retailing.
For example, Best Buy downsized by combining two stores into one. Gone are other Black Friday mainstays – Toys R Us and the Prices Corner Sears Store. Over the weekend, we saw the closing of the Kmart store in Newark.
Next year, we will likely see Black Friday back-ups at Christiana, King of Prussia and other regional malls, with quieter conditions elsewhere.
Enjoy your Cyber Monday. This newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug and Sharon Rainey
