There is so much businesses closing right now in Fargo-Moorhead; it get me thinking about West Acres.  The last few months stores like: Kmart, Sears, Payless, Macy, Family Christian store, and many others had closed their doors.

I have this one thing to say.  If they close JC Penny and Payless in West Acres, there is no more reason for me to go the mall.  I prefer shopping at those 2 stores along with Family Christian store.  They are more up my alley.

When Sears closed, it didn’t hurt my feelings any.  As I said in my past blog, it was a big mistake for Kmart to bail Sears out.  Sears is the downfall of Kmart.

Sears and JC Penny are the two oldest retail stores.  They both started in the earlier 1900.  Other stores, such as Montgomery Wards and Woolworth are gone.

I prefer shopping at both Payless and JC Penny, because I gets good deals on clothes and shoes.  When they go. why should I bother going to West Acres?  There will be no more reason to go shopping there.  Sure the Food Court is nice; but a person can eat any other place.  I can go to Best Buy, but I do not have to step into West Acres.

I don’t shop at Macy and Herbergers because they are too expensive for me.

It seems all the managers at West Acres care about is bringing in Specialty store in the mall.  Stores that only attract certain type of people.

Also, On-line orders are becoming very huge.  More people are choosing to order online.  I don’t know about you, but I prefer seeing what I’m buying.  I prefer trying on the clothes before I buy it.  Each styles fit differently with the sizes.  Yet, there are people, millennium in particular who prefer shopping online.  They thinks that it is more convient.  To me, it is just pure laziness.  I don’t like to shop either, but it’s best to see what you are getting before you buy it.

Don’t get me wrong!  I did order some stuff on online last year for Christmas.  Sometimes to find the hard stuff, a person have to shop online.

Another thing is the rent is too high for businesses to stay open at West Acres.  Haven’t the managers learned the valuable lesson from past malls in Fargo-Moorhead?

First, let us look at the old Holiday Mall, in South Moorhead.  In the 70’s Holiday mall was booming because of stores like Tempo, Ben Franklin, Piggley Wiggley, Foss Drugs, and Viking Rooms café.  As a child, while living in West Fargo, our family would go to Holiday Mall on Sunday after church.  We would have lunch at Viking Room and shop those stores that I mentioned.

When Kmart decided to open their store in Moorhead, so they can be open on Sunday, Tempo became scared and decided to close up shop.  When Tempo closed, Alco opened but it wasn’t the same.  Soon the Holiday Mall became a dying breed.  In the 80’s, Viking Rooms was out there but there wasn’t much other business worth shopping at.  There was Best Buy; but Best Buy made their best move when they opened near West Acres.  Soon Holiday Mall became no more.

Moorhead Center Mall is another example that the manager of West Acres can learn from.  What is in Moorhead Center Mall?  The parking lot is full but what is in there?  There is nothing worth while.

Even the old Northport Mall is also dying breed.  The reason why they are dead is because the rent is high and all the businesses is moving south, near West Acres.  Yet there are still people living in North Fargo.  Where are they to shop that is convient?

It seems that JC Penny and Kmart is running a race just to see who will close first.  There both struggling and are a dying breed.  We need these type of stores.

So you managers at West Acres get smart before it’s too late.  Because if Payless and JC Penny close, you will lose this customer.  I can go to another Verizon other than the mall.  I can go to Best Buy without even going to West Acres.  I can even stop eating in your food court.