Retail Watchers

The gym has windows that overlook the corridor as well as a set of doors.

They relocated GNC and Hibbetts was already there so they’d be visible from the windows. Both have closed after two years. Well Hibbetts relocated to a power center. But obviously traffic was not drawn in.

I do like Checkers but they have tried and failed here twice now. There was already a closed location when I moved here 25 years ago. They opened a new location around 2013, ironically just a few doors from the first, which closed in 2021. They actually seem to have survived in the smaller town to t...

My mall tried other things to. They were successful getting Planet Fitness to take over a tenant that had been empty nearly 20 years. I think the hope was it would draw more traffic to the mall, but it doesn’t seem to have done that. In fact all 3 tenants in sight of the gym have closed or relocated...

I don’t know if Walmart and Home Depot replenish their stock and Lowe’s does not, but I notice Lowe’s looks thinner in stock of these Christmas items starting around early/mid December. They also start marking certain items down a few weeks before Christmas. This results in them having a lot less to...

I noticed the Walmarts in my area had quite a bit of Christmas items left. This is unusual for 3-4 days after Christmas. Usually this stuff is completely gone a day or two after. I noticed a lot of it is still stuff like wrapping supplies and hooks and just stuff that generally doesn’t sell as much,...

The one here is in a power center. Never been there but it does strike me more as a B2B store. Usually when I hear about it, it’s more for specialty things. They sell the bleaching agent that’s used in the “retro rite” process (deyellowing plastic video game consoles, etc). To get this chemical can ...

I went to a newer Burger King this morning (about 5 years old) this morning. It had two televisions, one facing the lineup area at the front, and one facing the dining area. Neither were turned on.

I went to Burger King for breakfast this morning. I wasn’t sure they were even serving, it was 10 AM and only one or two cars there. I actually did something else and on my way back there were cars on the drive thru so I went in. Very few people were inside, maybe two others ordered the whole time I...

It’s surprising to me how many out of stocks Walmart has, and these seem to be somewhat permanent, yet items on display/and or shelf space left for them. There’s are a few items I’ve been looking for, one has been out of stock for nearly a year, the other was in stock a few months ago and gone since...

Most McDonald's locations I see have 1.5 drive through lanes. The lanes consist of a complete lane for ordering and windows for paying and pickup, and a half lane for ordering and no windows for paying and pickup. For the complete drive through lanes, some locations have issues having orders ready,...