Comment by ergothus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ergothus | Hacker News Reader

> many of the products in these stores seem to be dubiously sourced, the commitments of some, e.g. Christmas Town, are definitionally short, and the branding is banal. Currently, 10% of the storefronts are occupied by these independent brands, but one wonders what happens when this shrine to shopping begins to feel more like a swank swapmeet?

Other than the dubiously sourced products (which is a problem at Amazon too, so hardly unique to this space), I'm unclear on why this is such a problem? What happens when a "shrine to shopping" begins to feel more like a "swank swapmeet"? Presumably people buy stuff, which is the point, and honestly, after a lifetime of being deceived by or taken advantage of non-"banal" brands, banality doesn't sound so threatening. The rest of the article (not that there's much of it) leaves me likewise uncertain of what need is going unfulfilled. Is there anything I'm missing?

Apple never co-locates with a Dollar Tree store. There's a point at which Apple and other high-end retailers will decide that their brands are being diminished by being located next to an Alpaca-based clothing store. This may create a death spiral that accelerates the demise of the mall.

The NH malls across the border from Massachusetts are a somewhat unique situation. I'm not really familiar with the mall the author is writing about but the other one across the border is definitely lowish end by Apple standards. However, because lots of people cross the border to save on sales taxes, it makes sense Apple would be there--and is one of the busier stores in the whole mall.

> Apple never co-locates with a Dollar Tree store

Is that because Apple doesn't want to be tainted by that brand...or because there's minimal overlap in customer bases?

If Dollar Trees are bringing in the money and the customers, then either Apple DOESN'T belong there, or they'll start to share customers. Either way, I think the "banality" of the brand is at best an inefficient way to look at it and at worst a misleading one.

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