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Jul 30, 2018

A mall in Montana lost its department store … again

When managing a shopping center, "every day is a fresh opportunity for creative problem solving."

by Kai Ryssdal and Bennett Purser
People exit a subway into a Manhattan shopping mall on June 28, 2018 in New York City. The American economy showed the weakest performance in consumer spending in nearly five years new numbers from the Commerce Department show. Despite the drop in consumer spending, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the January-March period to give a mixed picture on the state of the American economy.
People exit a subway into a Manhattan shopping mall on June 28, 2018 in New York City. The American economy showed the weakest performance in consumer spending in nearly five years new numbers from the Commerce Department show. Despite the drop in consumer spending, the gross domestic product (GDP) increased at a 2.0 percent annual rate in the January-March period to give a mixed picture on the state of the American economy.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Retail across the country changes so fast its hard to keep up. There are always new ways to shop, and people want to spend their money. Retail sales were up in the month of June and gross domestic product surged in the second quarter.

But e-commerce giants like Amazon make it hard for big box stores and malls to survive. To see if there are any new ideas about keeping stores open in malls, we called Alana Ferko, on-site manager of the Butte Plaza Mall in Butte, Montana. It just so happens the main department store there will be closed by the end of August.

“The loss of every store is like we’re suffering the death because there’s not a lot of stand-up retail. We have a Walmart, but Kmart closed in June. So yeah, stand-up retail really is becoming tough placement.”

Click the audio player above to hear the full interview. 

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