This pandemic is forcing what was already starting to happen in the retail market. I just read a story asking what retail companies will survive these few months of closures and social distancing? It seems kind of a "no Duh!" kind of list, groceries are at an all time high, along with liquor stores, and then closely following are home improvement stores. The retailers not doing too good and possibly closing in the next few months are stores that their time had already come. I had mentioned a couple months ago that I was worried about the malls, as much as I love walking a mall and eating at a food court or just window shopping, some of those stores are just not going to be able to compete. The article mentions that Neiman Marcus has filed for chapter 11 and Macy's has furloughed 100,000 employees, which means it is on the brink of going under. These two stores have never even been my favorites and I don't personally care if they exist, but they are usually anchor stores in a mall. Anchor stores are the large puzzle pieces when a mall is put together on paper. They are usually on the ends, giving them multiple entry points from the outside versus the smaller stores that must be accessed from within the mall.
It is really not fair what has been going on in that some places are labeled "non-essential" and forced to stay closed, where others get the "essential" tag and can keep operating. I agree that grocery stores are where we get our food and even though we now have a big freezer, even with it full, we would still need access to a grocery store every two weeks, at the very minimum. We go only when we really start running out of stuff and really load up, we have come out with receipts over $500 and $400 and multiple times around $300 since spring break in March when we started panicking and finally invested in our freezer. Then we hear Home Depot and Lowe's are open, this is great, but is it "essential"? I don't think people live or die if they decide to paint a bedroom olive green or sky blue, but it has been nice to tackle some long overdue chores. I can see how these stores will be doing well, people get bored and eventually even chores are better than watching TV.
I didn't know that "essential" went as far as pool stores. I had been fighting with my pool, just dumping a new chlorine shock package every day and running the pump half a day for the last three weeks and nothing was happening. This usually works in about a week, the water clears up, but it was not responding this time. Well, I found out Leslie's Pool Supply was open and after getting my water tested, the guy there gave me some instructions and within a day, I now have a clear pool with no algae. This is awesome, but again, "essential"? I am not so sure.
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