Metro malls face challenges


For years, desperate retailers have wooed deal-crazed Black Friday shoppers with earlier and earlier openings. The potential collateral damage? Malls.

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This year, midnight madness went mainstream as Macy’s and Kohl’s embraced the idea and, in turn, led the Portland area’s largest malls — Washington Square, Lloyd Center, Clackamas Town Center — to open at the first strike of Friday with more shops active than ever before.

Then, of course, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced this week it’ll open at 10 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. And match any competitors’ prices.

And so goes the holiday shopping smackdown in which retailers battle over the dwindling dollars consumers say they’ll put toward gifts this year. It’s not so much about what folks buy anymore, but where they’ll buy it and at what price. The potential collateral damage? Malls.

 

Read more in today’s Oregonian.