Tweet

A lesson learned at the mall

Written by: Seth Godin

Article Overview: Retailers that spend on real estate, win.

A lesson learned at the mall

Retailers that spend on real estate, win.

The most expensive real estate in my county is a mall filled with stores. And those stores are jammed with shoppers. Almost none of them fold, none of them appear to be struggling. Almost all of them are expensive.

Two blocks away, independent stores, stores that cheaped-out on their real estate investment, those guys are struggling.

Well, you're not in retail, maybe, or you're virtual, so what difference does this make to you?

Question: what's your "real estate"?

For most of us, it's people.

Expensive people are just like expensive real estate. If you invest in them, you may just find they pay off. Some businesses work as hard as they can to pay people as little as they can (witness the fights over the minimum wage). What sort of growing business wants the minimum wage? If your business is people-based, as opposed to machine-based, why wouldn't you want people who command more than the minimum?

Related Articles
  Mall Cop - The Sales Example
  What Does Your Gut Say?
  Palms Shopping Mall, Changing Retail Distribution in Nigeria
  What Small Business Owners Can Learn From Kiosk Salespeople
  Leadership Lessons Heard

Article Tags: expensive people, independent stores, minimum wage, real estate investment, shoppers, those guys



Related Forum Posts
Re: The secret to happiness - Hey GT You have a great attitude. I was a 4 pack a day smoker and I stopped about 8 years ago. Nobody thought it possible that Barry Sarner could ever stop smoking. It turned out to be the biggest lesson I ever learned in MY LIFE. The lesson: How could you fail at anything if you just refuse to give up? I slipped and slided for 8 months but even when I messed up, and I did alot, I never threw myself under the bus. I just started all over again the next day. I CHOSE to start again the next day . . . I CHOSE You must work on it every day of your life. Just know that you have the choice to start from scratch the next day. . . . . AND THAT IS OK TO DO. NEVER NEVER NEVER GIVE UP
Re: The best course for starting an online business - Hi Keven, I would be more than happy to share it, but I'm really confused what to share, where to start. OK, here is the greatest lesson I learned from that course. It is realted with the starting an internet business. - If you want to start your online buisness, the first thing you should do is to find you [u:1vh6vyeb]own [/u:1vh6vyeb]niche (we have talked about this in forum on another threads). What most people trying to do is to find the hottest product on the net and try to market it to make money online. It is a WRONG concept. Or most newbies join money making programs and try to teach others how to make money too. And this makes the problem (because they don't even know how to make money themselves). It is a lesson which taught a lot in my online marketing business. This first lesson is simple, but great. Orxan
Re: WHAT BRINGS TEARS TO YOUR EYES ???? - Those are the toughest lessons to absorb. They stay with you for a long time. Any lesson learned that you could share?
Re: Getting *back* to the next step - When this discussion became about sports? But you are right, sports, food and sex will always have audience. I was in the mall 2 days ago, I don't like going to the mall, but sometime you have too, and it was jammed. No parking space, and it was so crowded, everywhere you go there are sales and people spending money. The economy has it effect, we thought it can't hurt us here, but it got to us too, and Kodak is closing their branch, not because it's losing money but because they need to cut on expanses and they are moving it to China. People are getting used to some standards and it's harder for them to go back. Food is the #1 industry here and will always be.
eBay update - Kevin, I would wait till the very last minute but that all depends on how badly you want to win isn't it. Just an update, I shared with everyone in the beginning of this thread that the Juicy Couture Bag we was in good condition but smelled like it came from heavy smokers' house. We took to the local dry cleaning place and cost us $40 to get rid of it but it's not completely out and we have been very disappointed with the added cost and its outcome. It's like people who smoke inside vehicle when they maintain their car, they think it should be viewed as in perfection condition to others (it's not), just as it was so described about this bag we bought. We didn't necessarily leave negative comment to the seller because we never asked about it on our end. We learned our lesson the hard way.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

10 Reasons Your SBA Loan May Be Declined

Why Use an Advertising Agency

Induction – your first management job

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.