People may be out at physical stores again, but it’s still not the same as it was
• The holiday decorations were at a minimum. Upscale malls like Lenox never went over the top even in the best of times but we could find no Santa station other than in a few individual stores and the sterile marble and metal décor of Lenox is showing its age when people are looking to reconnect with Mother Nature.
• Mall vacancies were not excessive but one expects a Class A center like Lenox to be virtually full. It was not and signs reading “Stay Tuned” no longer carry much credibility these days. One gets the feeling these are signs for Christmas Future.• Even if people are out shopping not every store is open to greet them. The Ralph Lauren shop at Lenox, which itself is fairly new, was all decked out inside but its doors were locked.
• And it wasn’t the only store closed: The big Starbucks in the middle of the mall, which often has the longest line in the place, was shuttered. It’s unclear how much of this is related to health and wellness and how much to trouble hiring baristas, but if there’s any time you need a caffeine hit it’s this week.NKE• Other traditional busy locations were barely hopping. One can always count on Auntie Anne’s pretzels as well as cookie and ice cream purveyors to have lines down the aisles.
• Perhaps the most telling sight of what shopping has become, particularly in a city like Atlanta which is struggling with higher crime rates, was the huge presence of police and security throughout the mall.
The Lenox Square mall no doubt remains one of the healthier shopping centers in the country and with its high-profile anchors – Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus in addition to Macy’s – it will continue to be an Atlanta destination, much to the relief of its corporate owner Simon Property GroupBut as a reflection of the state of retail circa December 2021, this timely mall visit contained shopping bags full of observations. And they didn’t even come gift wrapped.