Tube City Almanac

March 22, 2008

Adventures in Consumerism

Category: Local Businesses, Mon Valley Miscellany || By

First the good news: Paul Elliott, the California real-estate agent selling the People's Building, called Tube City Online Thursday night to say that he's received a solid offer from a developer who is experienced in historic preservation.

While he can't name the potential buyer yet, Elliott says the party has rehabbed other older buildings and is excited about the People's Building. The preliminary sales price is $495,000, Elliott says.

We could use some good news around here, so keep your fingers crossed. Spring has sprung, and Easter is a time for rebirth. I don't mean to be sacrilegious, but the resurrection of the People's Building could bring the rest of that block of Fifth Avenue back from the dead.

. . .


Now the bad news: Much of the upper deck of the parking garage at Century III Mall is closed, as this picture taken Saturday afternoon shows. I suspect this is because the mall management doesn't want to pay to patrol the lot and plow the snow for the handful of customers still using it.

But remember what the marketing manager said a few months ago: "Century III Mall is lively and well ... it is very much business as usual there." She called the mall "a central shopping destination."

Um, yeah. Right. That's why they've got most of the garage closed.

And here's a story from a few weeks ago, in which the mall manager says the facility is "going all out" to attract new tenants, particularly doctors and other professionals.


Well, here's one of the entrance ramps off of Clairton Boulevard. It's roped off because of all the potholes.

I'm just an ignorant layman, but not filling potholes doesn't seem like a strategy that will attract more tenants to their mall. In fact, if I were a doctor looking for space and I found half the parking garage closed, and the entrance road was more holes than pavement, I would run --- not walk --- to another facility.

Just to gild the lily, I also shot some extremely crummy video.


(Yeah, it's pretty poor, but in fairness, I was trying to dodge the mall cops.)

I predict there will be a flea market in the parking lot of Century III before the end of this year. And when that happens, prestigious tenants will flock to Century III.

Remember, nothing says "quality retail and professional destination" like a parking lot full of people flogging troll dolls and mismatched socks from the back of Chevy vans.

. . .

I did have a real reason for visiting the vibrant, lively shopping destination known as Century III Mall. Sears, Roebuck & Co. --- the official underpants supplier of Tube City Online --- sent me a coupon good for $10 off my next purchase, but it's only good through the end of the month.

I've been mulling over purchase of a DVD recorder for some time, and I decided that the balance on the old Sears charge is low enough to risk it. I've found Sears to be surprisingly competitive on electronics. They beat Best Buy and Circuit City on a lot of items. (There's your shopping tip for today.)

Sure enough, Sears had a nice selection of DVD recorders, including a swell looking Panasonic job with a built-in four-head VCR and a digital TV tuner. Hot diggity! That would enable me to watch digital TV signals with my old TV.

I was reading the instruction manual when a clerk came over. "Do you have any questions?"

"How does the editing work on this one?" I said.

"Oh, we don't have any of those," she said. I must have looked dumbfounded, because she said, "we're sold out ... we've been out of those for a while."

"Are you selling the floor model then?" I asked.

"No."

"When are you getting any more?"

"I don't know."

I moved over to a cheaper Toshiba model. "We're out of that one, too," she said. "Actually, we don't have any DVD recorders."

"Why are you displaying them if you don't have any?" I said.

"Sometimes we have them, but they sell out as soon as we get them," she said.

"Well, I'm kind of disappointed," I said, "because I've got this coupon, and it expires at the end of the month."

"Oh, those coupons aren't good for electronics anyway," she said. "Read the back."

. . .

Sure enough, the coupon isn't good for home electronics, car or home repairs, most appliances, special-order merchandise, brand-name clothing or a bunch of other items. That leaves ... well, basically store-brand underpants.

I'm fixed for Sears, Roebuck underpants right now, so I left empty-handed.

That's a heck of a business model they've got at Sears' TV department. It's basically a museum of DVD recorders, but they don't sell any. (They make it up in volume, I suppose.)

Between Sears sending out coupons you can't use on merchandise they don't have, and Century III's owners refusing to maintain the parking lot, it's no wonder that the mall remains such a "lively" central shopping destination.

Did I say it'll have a flea market before the end of the year? Maybe I should have said the end of the month.






Your Comments are Welcome!

I’ve also been told they are going to CLOSE the food court for 3 days open tomidnite to shoot a movie in the next couple weeks. Completely close. You know, I don’t think it wil really be a big deal. I stopped in a couple weeks ago (first time in like 5 years) to maybe grab some lunch. Most of the places were different than I had remembered. And will all the “patrons” sitting around, I thought I had walked into the dining room at Senior Care Plaza on a Tuesday nite….
Adam - March 22, 2008



You knew I’d show up when you had a retail post. :-)

Most of my electronics come from Sears, though they’re not exactly on the ball when it comes to product knowledge. Consider this exchange I had with a Sears electronics associate at Mercer Mall in Bluefield, West Virginia, some years back.

Sears Associate: Can I help you, sir?
Me: Yeah, I’m interested in this stereo. But I have a couple questions.
SA: Sure.
Me: What can you tell me about this stereo?
SA: (thinks for a second) Well, it’s on sale.
Me: OK. I mean, like, how many watts per channel does it have?
SA: (stares blankly)

I didn’t set bar the too highly after that.

In any case, if you go on Sears’ website, you can search the inventory of stores in a ZIP code and find what you want without a bunch of stuff.

Man, that mall is depressing looking. I knew times were hard at Century III, but it seemed really desolate in your photos and video. Such a change from how it used to be back in the ’80s.

Coupons never work for anything you want them to. If you think Sears’ are bad, you should look at all the restrictions on a typical Macy’s coupon. You pretty much can’t use them in that Macy’s furniture store you showed, or their value is reduced to the point of being worthless.
Steven Swain (URL) - March 23, 2008



In years past…before the destruction of the old Macy’s (nee Lazarus; nee Horne’s) store and two story parking structure, Ross Park Mall often closed the top level of the parking structure. My suspicion is that it was the old cliche of “bridge freezes before road” since cold air would flow underneath. Treating a nearly 100% concrete structure with salt would do a huge number on the structure and probably make it unusable in the spring, summer and autumn months too. So I am guessing that closing it just for winter (if indeed that’s what C3 is doing…and it wouldn’t surprise me if they were) is cheaper than having it closed most of the year. Just my thought…and perhaps not a very good one at that!
Eric (URL) - March 23, 2008



Did you at least get an Orange Julius, so that all wasn’t lost?
Keith Paradise - March 23, 2008



Keith:

No … that would have required going inside the mall, which is lacking only piano music, flowers and a coffin to look just like Hunter-Edmundson-Striffler.

No, I take that back: Striffler’s is more lively.

Steve:

One problem at Sears, I think, is that most of their “associates” are no longer on commission. They’re basically checkout clerks, not salespeople, and they’re paid a regular hourly rate.

Switching to hourly clerks had the effect of chasing out a lot of the experienced, longtime salesmen and women. Many of the replacements are high school or college age. So, as Jeff Kay would say, they don’t care a “single dingle” if you buy any thing.

In the old days, swarms of Sears salespeople used to descend on customers. That was annoying. But those salespeople would have raised hell if there was no stock to sell. The new kids don’t care.

I think Sears is approaching the point of no return (no pun intended) that Montgomery Ward hit in the 1990s, which is a shame, because I generally like Sears. I also think there’s a niche to fill between Target and JCPenney. Sears, unfortunately, is not filling it.

Also, if Sears is relying on their website, they’re nuts. There are countless places online I can find DVD recorders cheaper and better than Sears carries.

For that matter, I may wind up at Dom’s TV in Duquesne Village. If I have to order one, I might as well order from a local guy.

But I was in Sears, with a Sears charge card in my hot little hand, and I walked out.
Webmaster - March 23, 2008



Eric: I see your point, but Century III’s management /always/ used to plow and treat the parking garage. I’ve been using that mall since virtually the day it opened.

I don’t think they’re trying to conserve the concrete. There are so few customers using the upper level of the mall —- especially the third-floor —- that I suspect management decided to cut their losses.

It adds credibility to the reports, in the Tribune-Review and elsewhere, that Simon Property Group wants to dump the mall.

If you’ve decided that a property no longer has a long-term future in your company, one of the first things you cut is maintenance.
Webmaster - March 23, 2008



If The People’s Building sale does not go through, I’d like to suggest to Paul Elliot to have a lottery. This was done last year when no one was buying some people’s house in central PA. They sold 10000 tickets at $10 each. The winner was based on the 4-digit PA lottery. Someone got a house for $10, and the sellers received $100,000. I say sell 50 $8000 tickets and throw them into a bin and pull one out for the winner in the bank lobby. I’d buy one!
The Dude from West Mifflin - March 24, 2008



I think that ever since Sears merged with K-Mart that they have started drifting downhill. Outfits like Target have been eating into their market in a big way. The recent economic troubles will likely accelerate that process. And Jason, I think you’re right about C3. Even in the five or six years that I have been coming up there on a regular basis, I’ve seen it sliding away. Probably the only thing holding it together at the moment are the leases by the “anchor” tenants. If and when Sears, Penny’s or one of the others bails, it will be all over.
ebtnut - March 24, 2008



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