A guy walks through a mall asking how all of the businesses are making money. He believes it's all fake.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9vgM4Ct8Pd/
I found the original video
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTFS3Y2q5/
The thing that catches my thoughts is how much of the world is fake. Like this mall exists, but no one knows how it makes money. There shouldn't be a way for it to work out. We have a dead Internet theory, but what if much of reality is just like that, and the internet is where it's easiest to spot?
Most mall stores make all the stores profit at Christmas. The stores typically lose money the rest of the year. Internet sales continue to bite into market share and that will ultimately lead to those stores closing
I think another issue is that the US simply has too many malls. Suburbs/towns with a population of 50K have malls as big as European cities with a population of 500K. The average American suburb can’t sustain anything more than a strip mall and a Walmart.
How much can a store selling dollar costume jewelry really make in a month when they have to pay rent and wages all year?
Based on average US mall space rent ($29/ft²) I'd guess that's gotta be at least $10k per month for a tiny store (<300ft²) with 1-2 employees, utilities and whatever fees the mall tacks on on top of that.
Quite a lot I imagine, given just how much more business retail gets at Xmas. Like it is legitimately insane how much product you'll sell on a single day in December, compared to even the busiest day in any other month.