My train from Princeton pulled into New York City's Penn station at around 21h25 this evening. I walked up from the underground platforms into crowded streets throbbing with life. A slice of pizza at the first corner café, a quick dash into the pharmacy to grab some shampoo and a pair of socks, then back to the hotel to pen these words...
Manhattan at night is a completely different world to the one I had left behind in New Jersey little over two hours prior.
There, a once vibrant and classy shopping centre I had frequented as a student more than a quarter century ago was now a pale shadow of its former self.
Sprawling department stores well stocked with quality merchandise at reduced prices stood strangely empty apart from solitary cashiers at opposite ends.
Why the difference?
It's something that has been on my mind of late back home in Johannesburg where too, one finds recently-built retail real estate lying unoccupied.
The Zone in Rosebank has an impressive new wing added to it in anticipation of increased traffic from Gautrain, but is largely unfilled. New outlets and restaurants in that space have not lasted long.
I saw the same effect in downtown San Francisco where once powerful retail icons such as Tower Records now stand boarded up with no one to take over. Yesterday, UK retail giant Marks & Spencer announced its biggest slump in four years.
I sense a pattern here.
Yet, New York seems to be having no difficulty in being a city that never sleeps. Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue is open 24 hours a day — and has customers!
And so the question arises — is there some change taking place in the way we interact with each other that was not previously in evidence?
And can we change the way we are creating social spaces so that commerce is able to survive?
Firstly, we need to be aware that we are no longer shopping the way we used to. Internet shopping is becoming the norm for many products in many parts of the world and the ability to buy directly from suppliers means that retail outlets become expensive from both a real estate and staff point of view.
Secondly, we once relied on expert advice from retail assistants. The new model means that we are able to research a product or range of products before we go into the store. Or even if we have not already done so, we can hop into a retail outlet, look up a product on a smartphone while standing in the store, and then also compare prices at other nearby outlets.
That's why Walmart’s business model is so successful — it relies on massive purchasing and logistical power to move goods to consumers at the lowest possible price because it does not need to have in store expertise. If you don't like a product, take it back and get your money back. It's cheaper for most retailers to throw a product away than to pay a month’s salary to a sales assistant.
So the shopping mall as we know and love (or loathe) is a dinosaur doomed to extinction.
Or can it be saved?
The answer, I believe, is that we need to look at consumer items that cannot be bought over the Internet and use that as the hook to draw in customers.
Think about it: would you buy fruit or vegetables over the Internet? I certainly would not. I want to look at and feel apples and oranges and tomatoes and onions and bananas.
I would not order home delivery of fresh fish. I would not enjoy a restaurant experience without looking at what my neighbour is eating to see whether I wanted to order that too.
And that, I am convinced, is the reason why New York City is working. If you go out for dinner and a pair of shoes in the store next door catches your eye, chances are you will stop by to try them on, especially if you enjoyed your meal. Ditto if you go to the theatre or to the movies.
Woolworths clearly caught on to the idea some years ago when they realised that food was a mainstay of their product offering.
Where they messed up, I believe, is creating food-only outlets without realising that the food offering is the hook to sell the other stuff on the floor.
For mall owners, I suggest you forget everything you learnt at retail school about how shopping centres should be laid out. Especially that idiotic concept of a "food court".
Instead, you should intersperse food and retail outlets with a view to creating a village atmosphere; downsize on the massive floor space establishments; and create real diversity in the types of stores you bring in.
Yes, tattoo parlours add to attractiveness even if the people in there don't look like you.
For my part, I will not be investing in retail property management companies for a while yet.