Really Stupid Retail

"The mall is really beautiful but you just can't shop it," says Matt Bear, a Las Vegas real estate guy in a Wall Street Journal piece by Rachel Dodes, Karen Talley and Vanessa O'Connell. "The layout is strange," he adds. Matt is talking about the "$1.9 billion retail-entertainment complex on the Las Vegas strip that opened last year."

The mall is owned by General Growth Properties and is known as the Shoppes at the Palazzo. It is anchored by an 85,000-square foot store -- a Barneys store. To be profitable, this store had to clear $6 million a month. Six million a month! Well, guess what? It's about $4.5 million per month short and Barneys wants to close it, assuming it can get out of its lease.

Matt Bear says the "strange" layout makes it hard for shoppers to find the 85,000 square-foot anchor store. (!) "Surrounding luxury boutiques are also cannibalizing Barneys' sales, he said." Coach, meanwhile is shutting down four of its stores. Coach ceo Lew Frankfort says it's because the stores "are very expensive to operate, and we decided this was the right time to rationalize our approach to them."