Posted 11:13 AM by Gene

We said it before, we'll say it again: Just as we find it difficult to feel sorry for all these unneeded folding retailers we find it difficult to feel sorry for the burbs that needed them for tax revenues. A lot of the development was inspired by retailers zooming from cities, and debt and more debt piled on the rest. All these suitably empty boxes are monuments to social breakdown and useless consumption.

[E]mpty Linens 'n Things stores are often located next to the liquidating Circuit City stores, which aren't far from Cost Plus' World Market chain, which is closing 26 of its big stores. They are blight on the horizon and sad reminders of the economy's bleakness.

The cities know blight thanks in part to selfish retailers; now its the burbs' turn.