*By Justin Chermol*
The latest sign of the growing impact of e-commerce on brick-and-mortar stores? Mall vacancies have hit their highest level since 2012 and are closing in on all-time records.
Shopping centers saw 8.6 percent of their retail space unoccupied in the second quarter, up from 8.4 percent at the start of the year, according to research released by real-estate data firm Reis on Tuesday. The vacancy rate peaked at 9.4 percent in 2011.
Strip malls and local shopping centers are suffering the most, with more than a tenth of their space vacant. Occupants abandoned nearly 3.8 million square feet of property in the space between April and June.
The latest report comes days after now-bankrupt Toys ‘R’ Us closed its last U.S. locations on Friday. One-time retail giants such as Macy’s, Sears, JCPenney, and Bon-Ton have also closed dozens of locations nationwide.
And the trend towards online shopping affects more than just the retail industry. Local governments are seeing lower tax revenues as jobs are lost and spending decreases. And property owners are looking for alternatives for their spaces, with [some landlords](https://www.wsj.com/articles/malls-never-wanted-gyms-now-they-court-them-1511697600?mod=article_inline) converting former stores into call centers, gyms, or even churches.
But brick-and-mortar may not be totally dead. E-commerce giants like Amazon are actually opening physical locations. The company is [reportedly](https://www.geekwire.com/2018/revealed-amazon-gos-new-seattle-location-signals-tech-giants-growing-ambitions-checkout-free-retail-concept/) getting ready to launch its second cashier-less Amazon Go store in Seattle this fall.
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
