Atlanta Metro Mall Morbidity

Shopping Malls and Strip Malls continue to die.  Internet retail sales have taken a chunk out of brick and mortar retail.  But there is more afoot in this picture.  Big box stores like Costco have replaced traditional store space like Publix and Kroger.  As the economy weakens, corporations look to close some facilities if they have another facility nearby.

When malls lose their anchor stores, the mall converts into a secondary mall and lower volume businesses take over the space.  In a strip mall, the anchor is usually a grocery store.  In a Shopping Mall the anchors are usually department stores.

Chamblee Mall became a secondary mall decades ago. North DeKalb Mall is boarded up and all the anchor scores are gone, but smaller spaces are filling up.  Northpoint Mall is about 20 years old, but it has lost stores to Avalon, a new development north of Northpoint.  There are now more secondary malls than active malls across north metro.  Lennox and Perimeter malls have not been affected yet, but overdevelopment could change that if traffic gridlock takes over.

Poor construction and poor maintenance will result in stores moving out, especially if roofs leak and HVAC units are unreliable.  Rent hikes will also drive some stores away.

Atlanta has always been quick to knock down old buildings and replace them.  Corporations knock down new building and rebuild them to their own specs.  Grocery stores and pharmacies do the same.  Corporations dominate the large cities. Corporations have taken over entire industries that used to be private family businesses like restaurants, hardware stores, barber shops, beauty shops and bakeries. 

The Old Days were more frugal. The American family business model was based on several factors that have largely disappeared.  In these family businesses, the owner owned the land and the buildings.  The location was solidly anchored in a good location.  The family worked in the family business.  The business would pass from one generation to the next.  Costs were low, because the owner paid off the cost of the land and buildings and didn’t pay rent or franchise fees.  You can still find these businesses in rural counties and small towns.  These are the most popular restaurants in these cities.

The Death Tax is designed to kill these family businesses, when the business is worth $5 million or more.  This tax ruins family farms, auto dealerships and even giant private food processing and manufacturing businesses when the owner dies.  The first $5 million is not taxed, but the rest of the value of the business is taxed at 55%.  Family farms need to take out loans or sell land.  Other family businesses need to set up a Death Tax accrual account to save money to pay the taxes.  This is a double tax and needs to be repealed. 

UN Agenda 21 has introduced confusion over responsibilities and property rights. The Public Private Partnership scam enables local government to use tax dollars and voter credit to subsidize what should be private economy investments. This results in a never-ending barrage of special purpose sales tax proposals if you want your sewers and streets fixed.     

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader