The Mall Parking Lot: Overflowing
I made an observation in an earlier post about mall parking lots as an economic indicator. Well this weekend provided yet another indicator for me. I went to one of the smaller malls near me (which still has a large parking lot) because it contains a Market Basket grocery store. I actually circled around the entire parking lot without finding a spot! I even circled the far away overflow section and was unable to locate a spot. Mind you that I am not the type to slowly follow somebody who appears to be walking back to their car and then sit there blocking traffic while they load their car. So what I did was leave. I’ll come back on a weeknight.
Upon returning home I talked to my fiancee who had justed returned from Target and was complaining about how long it took her to find a space. I know Targets in more urbanized areas have smaller lots which also tend to be parasitized by people parking and walking. This Target is not in an urban location, just your typical suburban Target with huge parking lot. Yet she had trouble finding a spot.
Is it Easter that caused this surge of consumerism, typically associated with Christmas? While it may be understandable that the grocery store might be somewhat busier in advance of the holiday, its really hard to explain Target and the rest of the mall.
What I take away from this observation is significant doubt about what is being reported in the media about the slowing economy. Whatever slowdown we are looking at here is bound to be short lived. I also have to wonder if the “bad” state of the economy is nothing more than imagined. There are people (particularly in the media) that want nothing more than a change of political party in the executive office. They will convince themselves that the economy is “bad” and attempt to convince others. But unless they can convince corporate America to downsize its workforce, this recession will be nothing more than psychological. Hold on to your stocks, it’s going to be a rough ride, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
