I love me some Redbox. I’m ashamed to admit that I’m probably a good 5-years behind on movies I want to see. Buying any DVD (with the exception of kids’ movies) is a waste of money, in my opinion. I contemplated signing up for Netflix, but I doubt I would utilize the service enough to justify the expense. Redbox neatly fills that void by allowing me to pick up new releases at my convenience, all for the low price of $1 plus tax.
I’ve seen a couple of articles questioning the earlier linked to story about retail store closings. Prior to posting, I checked both Snopes and cherry-picked Google News and Trends to check the veracity of the stores mentioned. Like Snopes, I am confident that it is at least partially true, with the caveat that the list was drawn up in April 2008, and most likely will contain more stores and locations by the time the year ends.
Totally anecdotal – take rumored lists via SEC filings of stores closing retail locations (almost all are either internal mall stores or larger anchors) and the list of FDIC compliance-related job postings. The retailers who won’t be closing are drastically scaling back their plans for expansion.
For many municipalities, these malls serve as their civic center, job engines, and sources of tax revenue. Dead malls and empty big boxes may soon litter the landscape. The financing of these projects is usually done through regional banks.
Psychology Today has a hat-trick of consumer behavior articles today including why we buy, how they get us to buy, and what’s the risk of having too many option.
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Dec 08
Daily Links for December 1st