Map of the Sears and Kmart stores closing in 2017

In this Business Insider article (7/7/2017), there's a map of all 245 Sears and Kmart stores closing this year.  You can zoom in to check out specific areas.  Here's a couple things I noticed from a quick look at it:

- The majority of Sears/Kmart stores closing are east of the Mississippi River.

- Most of the stores closing are in the smaller or medium sized cities in rural areas. 

The Retail Apocalypse: Suburbs versus cities

Just found this great article by Henry Grabar on Slate.  He looks at today's Retail Apocalypse by comparing it to how city downtowns lost much of their retail 50 years ago.  There are different dynamics happening here, but he makes great points and explains the mistakes cities made in fighting the suburban malls decades ago.

More news on the Retail Apocalypse

In this CNBC article (6/2/2017), they give a bunch more facts and stats on the Retail Apocalypse, and a look at the coming Mallpocalypse.  Here are some of the key points in the article:

-Credit Suisse predicts 20 to 25% of all malls (in the U.S.) will close down in the next five years.  There are about 1,200 enclosed malls in the country, so that means 240 to 300 are expected to close.  Other sources have predicted 400 will shut down in the next five years.
-Retail sales growth is the weakest since the Great Recession of 2008.
-Luxury purse maker Michael Kors is closing 100 stores.
-Gymboree is now in bankruptcy.
-Retailers fired 6,100 workers in May 2017.  That means about 95,000 retail workers have lost their jobs in the last seven months.
-16 million people, 1 in 10 American workers, work in retail.

Meanwhile...
-Amazon is opening physical bookstores.
-Lidl (pronounced Lee-dul), a German grocery store, is opening lots of new stores.

This isn't a recession that's closing all these stores.  Not yet, anyhow, I think we'll head into a recession in the six months to a year.  What's happening to Retail stores is what happened to factory jobs in the 1980's-2000's, and what happened to music in the 90's.  New technology, automation, and changing buying habits have changed the game.  The old school department stores, mall stores, and other retailers just didn't keep up.  It's a major business revolution, and it's far from over.  Just like factory workers in previous decades, thousands, and likely millions, of retail workers will have to learn a new career... or create their own job or business in some way. 

The Retail Apocalypse is hitting teen job market hard

"Young jobseekers are facing a perfect storm of employment barriers this summer." -Jordan Bruneau

In this East Bay Times article, the writer lays out many reasons why teens will have a harder time finding work in many places this summer.

Why do I write a blog about weird ways to make money?  Because a lot of people just can't "Go get a job" anymore.  We need to find alternative ways to make a living.  That's what this blog is about.

The Retail Apocalypse keeps apocalypting: 4,229+ stores closing

This Radio Shack Vine pretty much sums it up.

Late last year, the mass of retail stores closing got dubbed The Retail Apocalypse.  The numbers just keep going up.  The best overall list of stores closing is by Clark Howard and his team at clark.com.  This article now lists 4,229 retail stores closing or closed this year.  That doesn't include Gander Mountain, which is having liquidation sales at 126 stores OR Kohl's that plans to downsize about 200 stores.  That list has expanded by 1,000 or more stores in the last couple of months.  Many, many more stores could close before this shakeout hits bottom.  I haven't seen recent numbers on the total people laid off yet by all of this. 

Somehow, in our Dali-esque, Trump-focused universe, the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street is surging even higher today.  BUT... nearly 40% of millionaires surveyed recently do not plan to invest next month.  That's huge.  They're waiting to see how this insanity in both retail and Washington D.C. will pan out. 

Why am I doing this weird little blog about starting a small business or creating your own job?  Because millions of people are going to have to create their own jobs in the next several years. 

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg wants everyone to get a check

Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard dropout and tech billionaire creator of Facebook, called for looking at "Universal Basic Income," in his Harvard commencement speech a few days ago.  Here's a guy who made an incredible fortune in his 20's by writing a program initially designed to meet hot girls at Harvard.  He's really, really smart.  He had a great idea, and worked hard with many other people, for several years, to make it happen.  Yet, he has the audacity to say that luck played an important part in his success.  That's pretty freakin' amazing.

So what is "Universal Basic Income?"  It's the idea that every single person in the country should get a basic income from the government.  Yeah, a multi-billionaire is saying you deserve a check just for being a human being.

Why is he supporting looking into this idea?   Because a small group of people, mostly really smart people, look to the future we're heading towards.  One of the big issues they see, and the issue that sparked this blog for me, is that machines and software are quickly replacing human jobs.  Nobody who looks into the issue seriously, is sure how we will out the whole population to work in the next 10-20-30 years.  There just aren't going to be enough jobs, pure and simple.

At the same time, small groups of people, like Mark's initial crew at Facebook, are able to create tens of billions of dollars of value with their company in a few short years. They realize that they can't spend all that money on golf courses, call girls, yachts, gold plated urinals, and stuff like that.  These people are looking to put a chunk of that wealth back into the system to being millions out of poverty and level the playing field in the economic world.  Obviously, the people who have rigged that playing field in their favor for generations aren't stoked on this idea. 

Personally, I'm not sold on Universal Basic Income, and I've spent years homeless while working full time, and way beyond full time.  My first thought is turning us into a nation full of people sitting on the couch, getting stoned, and playing video games all day.  But around here, so many people scam to get a Social Security disability check (who don't truly deserve it), that it's be cool if the hard working and motivated people also got a check.  A lot of people would do a lot of really cool things if they could get beyond financial instability.

Personally, my focus these days is to help people build and grow the small creative scenes that give people an outlet for their energy and creativity.  Those scenes often turn into new businesses and new jobs, and sometimes entire new industries.  But I am really glad a group of really smart, really wealthy, forward looking people are thinking about this concept.  What do you think?

More tech and less human jobs in the future

I hit working age in the mid 1980's, and I got hired for every single job I applied for until age 27 or 28.  I was completely unqualified for most of the jobs, but I adapted quickly and did well at most of them.

It's a whole different world now.  This WIRED clip from a couple of days ago hits on a huge issue that very few people are talking about.  Technology changed the taxi industry in the 2000's (before Uber and Lyft), and I could no longer make a living, and became homeless.  I know what it's like to get wiped out by new technology.

I've haven't had a regular job for years now.  As I started looking into this issue, I came to the conclusion that MILLIONS of Americans will have to create their own jobs in the next several years.  There's no way around it.  That's what this blog is about.