THE DOWN-AND-OUT MALL SANTA REINVENTS HIMSELF FOR A MODERN AGE
FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: washingtonpost.com
"As Americans do more of their buying online, shopping malls are losing their significance and taking with them a decades-old holiday staple: the Mall Santa.
Dozens of shopping malls have closed in the past decade, and another 1 in 4 are expected to go out of business by 2022, according to a recent report by Credit Suisse. Department store chains including Macy’s, Sears and J.C. Penney are closing locations at a record clip, and other mall standards like Gymboree and the Limited have filed for bankruptcy, creating new challenges for portly, bearded men of a certain age who look to malls for seasonal work."
Yes indeed.. the mall Santa is becoming as old and hackneyed as SEARS itself. The notion that kids will sit on the laps of dear old men with grey beards, either real or fake, is an old time thought.
MACYS still has a big draw.. but the smaller malls went part time a few years back. Now malls are vanishing as are the Santas within.
I recall when my son was born, about a year into this life (he's now 6), we went to see our local mall's Santa arrive on a helicopter. Masses of people showed up to witness it. It was a great moment, exciting too.
....the mall is gone. Santa's throne is cold and lonely..
The end is nigh.
The malls are dry...
And when they go?
....only reindeer know.
