Your Local Mall Is Dying. Unless You Are Rich.

The slow death of the American shopping mall is not evenly distributed. A disproportionate number of recent high profile store closure announcements have been in communities that are already struggling. It's creating a retail Rust Belt. This version of the Rust Belt won't be as easy to wrap up into a political platform as the manufacturing Rust Belt, and creates different types of challenges for the communities impacted.

The bad news for physical retail seems to come in waves, and last week was a particularly bad one. Macy's announced another round of store closures. Sears did as well. The Limited announced it was closing all of its brick and mortar stores to focus on its online business. This is all happening in an overall reasonably good economy, with an unemployment rate below 5 percent and accelerating wage growth. The next recession, whenever it comes, is likely to produce a "shock and awe" moment for malls and physical retail.