" Retail Apocalypse ", Sears, and malls.

[SteveNomad]

People speak in the U.S.A. about the " Retail Apocalypse " so much so that it has its own Wikipedia thread! That means the tendency if a lot of chain stores to fold a lot of their outlets or go out of business COMPLETELY - what, there's really been too many in the last 12 or so years since the Great Recession to need to list any?!!
Thank Mr. E-ommerce - and Miss Amazon, especially! - and general overextension by people with the money in the late 20th and early 21st coming due! If...when...the economy collapses a bit, there might REALLY be a (bleep)storm of stores closing down!
Sears Roebuck has been a real symbol of this in America. They've spent the last I-don't-know-how-many years in an operations death scence - longer than the Church of England's or the legitimate theater!!!!!!!!! The man who owns them also owns K-Mart .The one mall (Capitola, CA) near here had a Sears as one of their foundation/basic stores (That's not the phrase, but...) but it went out of business last year, I think. Their space remains empty, though it was just temporarily occupied by a Halloween Spirit store, and I think there were other temporary ones. I rather like that mall, but I suppose it's a little too quiet, not enough - People who went there before said that it used to be more jumping -;It's food court is PITIFUL now, only a couple of food chains now, tons of empty space - there's been at least one more independent place that's come and gone, two more starting there now. We'll see.

 

[Judge]

Yeah. Come to Reno-Sparks NV and you see a glut of empty commercial real estate. The local economy has recovered, but so many of those relatively new retail store locations have yet to be occupied.

 

[SteveNomad]

...I meant " operatic death scene ", BTW...Though, on the other hand, I believe there was a certain sequence in a Month Python movie!!!!!!!!!
I've been in Reno some, but just in the tourism part, really...I used to take these $27?? " Gamvlers'Slecial " Greyhound round trips from San Francisco, they don't have that anymore, but I went again recently, too the Sands...Does that casino that had " the Awful-Awful Burger " still exist?
I remember one place that was a casino, on it's ground floor anyway...with kind of Didn't&style animated models...if bears? Mice?...on the casino floor. This is a casino, by definition for adults only!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[oregano]

Extreme overbuilding due to the 2000s real estate bubble. It's everywhere. The economy really isn't doing well, it's mainly cooked books, and it's bipartisan, Obama and Trump have both done it. People lose their jobs and can't find new ones. The only jobs available are filled mainly by illegal immigrants, and I'm not selecting out any specific race, they fill jobs at the top and the bottom (albeit from different parts of the world). Lots of posts on Craigslist from people begging for aluminum cans and cardboard to be given to them so they can get a few bucks to eat, people living in cars, people living in old RVs that break down and are towed away and then the former inhabitants beg for tents, as for those tents they are popping up like kudzu. Nobody can afford to buy food, went to Wal Mart today, a dozen cans of food cost me $20. It follows that nobody can afford clothes or anything else either. It's all over the world, the failure of the final human civilization. Learn to hunt and gather now or else.

 

[Judge]

too the Sands...Does that casino that had " the Awful-Awful Burger " still exist?

I'd have to answer that in two parts:

1) I won't set foot into the Sands. It's too much like bathing in a huge ash tray. I wouldn't contemplate breathing there let alone eating on the premises.

2) There is a Mel's Drive-In (American Graffitti) that's actually quite good as a franchise located adjacent to the Sands Regency Casino Hotel. Though I don't know how segregated the airspace may be from the Sands itself. Though the good news is that whole section of town is supposed to be renovated.

As for a burger, I'd probably be more inclined to go GSR (Grand Sierra Resort) and eat at Johnny Rockets.

 

[oregano]

The Awful Awful burger is sold in a little cafe at the back of the tiny little casino called The Nugget (NOT to be confused with the big John Ascuaga Nugget in Sparks) on North Virginia Street in downtown Reno, right next to what used to be Fitzgerald's but what is now a boutique hotel without a casino whose name I can't remember. When I was last in downtown Reno in the winter of 2017, The Nugget and the Awful Awful were still there.

The Nugget is like the Sands, only FAR worse, basically a biker casino more than anything. If you can tolerate the smell and the filth, the Awful Awful is an ok burger, but way too big for my tastes. Basically if you're stuck in downtown Reno without a car for a night or two (I'd come in on a "snow bus" tour with my mom, and we bought rooms at the Silver Legacy), and get hungry but don't want a generic fast food burger, and you can tolerate the grime, the Awful Awful is a pretty good choice.

If you have a car, anywhere else is a better deal, Johnny Rockets at the Grand Sierra, even Fuddruckers in Sparks off the East McCarran exit off I-80. The University of Nevada bought up a big chunk of downtown just south of the original campus and ripped out all the grungy motels and was going to expand last I heard, but in the other end of downtown than the Sands.

As for actually LIVING in Nevada, I looked into it, but Reno is basically Los Angeles East complete with Sureno street gangs, and the farther out in the desert you go the more corrupt and clannish it gets. Officially, the taxes are low, but out in the desert you wind up paying all sorts of "fees" to the local govt to build, and then of course all the construction companies are owned by the good ole boys network, and they do NOT like outsiders. California license plates basically function as a giant KICK ME sign, as far as they're concerned.

 

[Aspychata]

And if that idn't enough , l wouldn't drink the contaminated faucet water because of the toxic waste dump out there. I did hear there are a lot of gangs there.

 

[Streetwise]

And if that idn't enough , l wouldn't drink the contaminated faucet water because of the toxic waste dump out there. I did hear there are a lot of gangs there.

Don’t come to the UK either ,the water companies are criminal, There is an app to tell surfers if there has been a sewage spill.

 

[FreeDiver]

here are some YouTube channels you guys might wanna check out.

Dan Bell
Sal
Ace's Adventures
Retail Archaeology

 

[Judge]

The Awful Awful burger is sold in a little cafe at the back of the tiny little casino called The Nugget on North Virginia Street in downtown Reno

The Nugget is like the Sands, only FAR worse, basically a biker casino more than anything.

Ah....LOL. The "other Nugget". Never give it a thought. As a rule I seldom venture any further north on Virginia Street than say the Circus Circus, Silver Legacy and El Dorado casinos. Usually only in those parts for a nice dinner on the holidays.

Most of the bikers in town behave themselves since the 2011 trouble between the Vagos and Hells Angels. You can't even wear your colors here in the city limits during "Street Vibrations" or you get escorted out of town. But as I said, I'm not often in that part of town to even notice.

As for actually LIVING in Nevada, I looked into it, but Reno is basically Los Angeles East complete with Sureno street gangs, and the farther out in the desert you go the more corrupt and clannish it gets.

I've lived here for some 11 years, and Reno is nothing compared to East LA- or the Bay area. I used to work in East LA in the summers years ago for my aunt on East Olympic Blvd. Can't say I ran into any trouble with the locals either. Then again I've been in parts of West Richmond and East Oakland where I was lucky to leave with my life for just passing through.

Unless you venture into select parts of Reno-Sparks well after midnight, odds are that you'll never even notice gang activity other than what you occasionally hear on the local news. But then you could say that about most larger metropolitan areas in general.

California license plates basically function as a giant KICK ME sign, as far as they're concerned.

Not really. Tourists from many states pay a lot of our taxes relative to gaming. Even the cops cut 'em some slack when they speed and use their cellphones while driving. Though the economy no longer depends on gaming and tourism as it once did. If a local gives a tourist a bad time, chances are they were probably former refugees from California anyways. A bit silly, but it's been known to happen. Anyways most Californians are migrating elsewhere to places like Texas. Let them raise the cost of living there instead of here.

The only place I ever heard locals habitually talk about tourists like they were garbage were my own relatives who lived in Orange County, Southern California. Just the way they used to say "tourist"...you knew what they meant. And if you weren't born there, even other Californians were regarded in the same manner. Not surprising to realize that I don't have a single relative left in California.

You have to actually live here in Nevada for an extended stay to grasp that it is different from just being a tourist. Something you can't achieve as a tourist with a suitcase in a hotel room. But then I love the desert and mountains and don't give humanity or urban blight much thought anyways. Especially with living on the edge of desert, with an abundance of wildlife just beyond my door. That's the Reno-Sparks that I have come to know.

 

[oregano]

Well, I'm talking WAY WAY OUT in the freakin desert, Fallon and Yerington and beyond. In Reno, Carson, and even Fernley nobody really cares about the tourists from CA, since like you said they do spend lots of money and indirectly pay a lot of taxes (room surcharges, sales taxes on all the overpriced casino souvenirs, and all the various other hidden taxes).

Get off the interstate however and it's a different story. Places like Silver Springs/Stagecoach, Churchill County, and the like are not very welcoming, everybody has those I DON'T CARE HOW IT'S DONE IN CALIFORNIA! bumper stickers and rifle racks on their beat up Ford pickups.

In Fallon, the military guys at Naval Air Station Fallon live in their area and the locals live everywhere else, the airmen are tolerated somewhat because of that "govt cheese" but other than that? No way. Try to build and the locals line up to screw you over. Complain and you get run out of town. I've been out there, talked to people who know, and it's definitely NOT Reno. That arsenic filled groundwater is in (well, under) Fallon, BTW.

I'm not sure how bad gang wars are in Reno since the Mexican gangs are mainly Sureno and the real bad fighting generally happens when Nortenos and Surenos clash. Other than that, know the areas where you can't wear red (Sur gangs wear blue) or go at night (or rent an apartment) if you're "blanco" and you'll likely be fine. The Mexicans generally just kill each other for the most part in Reno. Still, all the graffiti and decay and dicey guys standing on street corners in places like the Old Southeast is not very appealing. (Whites who live way out in Galena don't have such issues, of course.)

 

[Judge]

Well, I'm talking WAY WAY OUT in the freakin desert, Fallon and Yerington and beyond. In Reno, Carson, and even Fernley nobody really cares about the tourists from CA, since like you said they do spend lots of money and indirectly pay a lot of taxes (room surcharges, sales taxes on all the overpriced casino souvenirs, and all the various other hidden taxes).

Get off the interstate however and it's a different story. Places like Silver Springs/Stagecoach, Churchill County, and the like are not very welcoming, everybody has those I DON'T CARE HOW IT'S DONE IN CALIFORNIA! bumper stickers and rifle racks on their beat up Ford pickups.

In Fallon, the military guys at Naval Air Station Fallon live in their area and the locals live everywhere else, the airmen are tolerated somewhat because of that "govt cheese" but other than that? No way. Try to build and the locals line up to screw you over. Complain and you get run out of town. I've been out there, talked to people who know, and it's definitely NOT Reno. That arsenic filled groundwater is in (well, under) Fallon, BTW.

I'm not sure how bad gang wars are in Reno since the Mexican gangs are mainly Sureno and the real bad fighting generally happens when Nortenos and Surenos clash. Other than that, know the areas where you can't wear red (Sur gangs wear blue) or go at night (or rent an apartment) if you're "blanco" and you'll likely be fine. The Mexicans generally just kill each other for the most part in Reno. Still, all the graffiti and decay and dicey guys standing on street corners in places like the Old Southeast is not very appealing. (Whites who live way out in Galena don't have such issues, of course.)

Clearly you have a very different uptake of my state. But hey...I just live here.

Fallon? Churchill County's Canteloupe Fair is a hoot with all those canteloupe margaritas.

Maybe you'll have better luck in Texas. Or not.

¿Tú entiendes?

 

[SteveNomad]

...My!!!!!!!!!!! To link that, a long time ago, during my " Gambler's special ' period, I sorta vaguely ruminated about the possibility nof moving to the Biggest Little City!!!!!!!!! I had no driving ability then, either, so I guess what I suppose was the downtown of old - near the bus depot that was there then, completely replaced by another one on my recent Sands trip - so I just knew downtown really
I didn't really ultra-consider it then, but I seem to recall that that casino with the cutesey bear robots that took your money was the bottom floor of a residential hotel/SRO/apartment of some type (This was early 00s I guess) - and I think that casino bears SRO may've been, later, the site of a pretty major fire where a lot of people were killed! (+ convictions later?)

 

[Judge]

I didn't really ultra-consider it then, but I seem to recall that that casino with the cutesey bear robots that took your money was the bottom floor of a residential hotel/SRO/apartment of some type (This was early 00s I guess) - and I think that casino bears SRO may've been, later, the site of a pretty major fire where a lot of people were killed! (+ convictions later?)

The only major residential hotel fire in Reno I can recall at the time would be the Mizpah Hotel in 2006. An arson that left six people dead and the perp in prison with two life terms. The building was demolished. Happened before I moved permanently to Nevada.

The MGM Grand hotel fire in Vegas left 85 persons dead back in 1980. Of course such fires are a rarity here compared to the Las Vegas strip. Way more people and exposure in general to be found in Clark County. Even then, Nevada remains a very large state with a very small population if you discount the number of tourists that are here any time of year.

 

[oregano]

Clearly you have a very different uptake of my state. But hey...I just live here.

So much hostility. Maybe you'll have better luck in Texas. Or not.

¿Tú entiendes?

Hey, didn't mean to be hostile or insulting. Just noting that there's a difference between the big cities and the little towns out on the high desert. I've spent time in Reno and I've also been out in the high desert. Reno has its problem areas and its nice areas, like any other city.

Out on the desert (talking Churchill and Lyon counties here), I've talked to local govt clerks and read through the paperwork with all the "fees", talked to the main mobile home dealers in Silver Springs who gave me a LOT of info about which areas to avoid (mainly due to meth) and the hoops a landowner has to jump through to settle on a piece of land, talked to the local well driller (yeah, there's pretty much just one), talked to some of the locals. This was back in 2008/9, admittedly.

Living in Reno is far different than living out on the desert, if you just live in Reno it's pretty much like any other small city, albeit one with more lights along the main boulevards. And it is getting nicer, gradually, all the construction will eventually pay off. I'm not talking about Reno here for the most part though, but (again) the small towns out on the high desert, 50 miles + east of Reno. I'm not sure why you seem to be conflating the two.

 

[Judge]

Hey, didn't mean to be hostile or insulting.

LOL...of course you didn't.

The only real downside I see living here is :

1) The cost of living has risen astronomically wooing all these corporations and employees from out of state.

2) Similar fire exposure as California, but we have an electrical infrastructure in far better shape (NVEnergy) owned by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett). Water as a utility isn't cheap here either. Our greatest exposure to fire is often caused by Mother Nature- dry lightning. But this is in the middle of a desert...so it is what it is.

Though whether you go north to Reno or south to Vegas, it's true. There is a "retail apocalypse" that is quite visible in the form of vacant retail buildings. Many still appearing brand new. It's sad...and I don't see it going away any time soon.

But then another place I try not to venture to is our one major mall at Meadowood. No thanks.

 

[oregano]

The only major residential hotel fire in Reno I can recall at the time would be the Mizpah Hotel in 2006. An arson that left six people dead and the perp in prison with two life terms. The building was demolished. Happened before I moved permanently to Nevada.

The MGM Grand hotel fire in Vegas left 85 persons dead back in 1980. Of course such fires are a rarity here compared to the Las Vegas strip. Way more people and exposure in general to be found in Clark County. Even then, Nevada remains a very large state with a very small population if you discount the number of tourists that are here any time of year.

I remember the Mizpah fire. Very old building (1920s), very rundown, the owners had replaced all the mattresses in the rooms and then there was some sort of problem with getting them hauled off so the mattresses were sitting in the hallways, then a tenant lit one. I don't remember if a motive was ever discerned.

The other really awful fire of the era I recall was an old divorce hotel of the type used by women seeking a "Reno-Vation" as a quickie Nevada divorce was called. A huge extended family was rehabbing it for a private home. They'd moved all their stuff in, and everything they owned in the world went up in smoke, including the hotel which was maybe 3/4 finished. Cause was electrical IIRC.

The whole talking bears thing sounds like Circus Circus, AFAIK neither the Reno nor Vegas locations have ever burned. OP may be thinking of the MGM fire.

 

[Judge]

The whole talking bears thing sounds like Circus Circus, AFAIK neither the Reno nor Vegas locations have ever burned. OP may be thinking of the MGM fire.

Yeah I still recall the MGM Grand fire on television. Man...that was ugly.

 

[SteveNomad]

The only major residential hotel fire in Reno I can recall at the time would be the Mizpah Hotel in 2006. An arson that left six people dead and the perp in prison with two life terms. The building was demolished. Happened before I moved permanently to Nevada.

The MGM Grand hotel fire in Vegas left 85 persons dead back in 1980. Of course such fires are a rarity here compared to the Las Vegas strip. Way more people and exposure in general to be found in Clark County. Even then, Nevada remains a very large state with a very small population if you discount the number of tourists that are here any time of year.

...is this a different Mizpah Hotel from the one I just looked up on Wikipedia that is in Tonopah and was shuttered from 1999 to 2011 with no Wiki-mention of a fire? I guess. Maybe the bearsy wearsy casino I remember was the site of the Reno fire? I also remember a shuttered Paul Revere's Kicks casino or something like that being downtown. I always meant to buy my brother some sovinuer Biggest Little City schlock and send pictures sometime on a return visit and I never did and he's been dead for 2 years-plus now so I never will. My younger brother was retarded and autistic (by one diagnosis, anyway) - " for real " autistic, so to speak, like a 3-4-year old - I meant to bring that up later, in a at least more dedicated to it thread - But maybe I feel the need to impress you that I'm a " nice " person after all ! I felt bad about Bruh, more handicapped than I!
On that Sands trip recently I went strolling by the river one night&evening - it looked nice, sort of " renovated downtown " looking, I strolled by an Episcopalian church and across from the Riverview multiplex, where, in my Gambler's Special days, I once killed after going to a movie I paid for (ALMOST FAMOUS) I snuck into another screen without paying and saw GET CARTER, with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke - a mumble mumble mumble contest - my punishment was seeing that movie! Nethertheless, I always felt I owed that theater a couple of paid admissions -;I didn't do it that time, however! IIRC, I was literally alone in the screening for the Almost Famous showing.
The little Nugget with the Awful-Awful was a pretty small place, but could afford TV advertising on network affiliate 11 o'clock news, I remember that!

 

[Judge]

...is this a different Mizpah Hotel from the one I just looked up on Wikipedia that is in Tonopah and was shuttered from 1999 to 2011 with no Wiki-mention of a fire? I guess. Maybe the bearsy wearsy casino I remember was the site of the Reno fire? I also remember a shuttered Paul Revere's Kicks casino or something like that being downtown. I always meant to buy my brother some sovinuer Biggest Little City schlock and send pictures sometime on a return visit and I never did and he's been dead for 2 years-plus now so I never will. My younger brother was retarded and autistic (by one diagnosis, anyway) - " for real " autistic, so to speak, like a 3-4-year old - I meant to bring that up later, in a at least more dedicated to it thread - But maybe I feel the need to impress you that I'm a " nice " person after all ! I felt bad about Bruh, more handicapped than I!
On that Sands trip recently I went strolling by the river one night&evening - it looked nice, sort of " renovated downtown " looking, I strolled by an Episcopalian church and across from the Riverview multiplex, where, in my Gambler's Special days, I once killed after going to a movie I paid for (ALMOST FAMOUS) I snuck into another screen without paying and saw GET CARTER, with Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke - a mumble mumble mumble contest - my punishment was seeing that movie! Nethertheless, I always felt I owed that theater a couple of paid admissions -;I didn't do it that time, however! IIRC, I was literally alone in the screening for the Almost Famous showing.
The little Nugget with the Awful-Awful was a pretty small place, but could afford TV advertising on network affiliate 11 o'clock news, I remember that!

The Mizpah in Tonopah was renovated not too long ago. It's also a popular venue for those of us involved in paranormal investigation. The Mizpah in Reno no longer exists due to the fire I posted about.

I'm also excited about the Cal Neva Resort at Crystal Bay North Lake Tahoe. It was bought and is presently being renovated by Oracle's Larry Ellison. Having been there a number of times it's another important location for paranormal happenings. This was the resort once owned by Frank Sinatra and frequented by people like Marilyn Monroe and Sam Giancana.