So what happened to the mall, really?
If you look at this quarterly crop of retail earnings, you are kind of stuck thinking that the consumer's going to the mall -- she's just going to fewer, more special stores in the mall that she thinks are intriguing or value-oriented.
Just go through what we heard from some mall-based retailers this quarter. Two entirely mall-based companies, L Brands (LB) and Urban Outfitters (URBN) , had among the strongest performances of any of the companies in the sector. Urban was strong across the board, but the really intensely mall-based Anthropologie was a total stand-out. L Brands saw some double-digit numbers out of Pink, which has become a stalwart in the mall. Bath & Body Works put up its usual strong numbers because, alas, you can't smell through Amazon (AMZN) ... yet.
Nordstrom's (JWN) anniversary sale outperformed and, again, that fits the puzzle of getting something of value at the mall. Yes, that is that big a needle-mover.
Ralph Lauren (RL) saw a turn based on the company's ability to more quickly execute on what people want -- the speed factor -- which is what L Brands focused on so well in terms of making its improvements, too.
With this quarter, we saw a return to sanity in sporting goods. Foot Locker (FL) had previously been reporting poor numbers, but if the mall is dead, how do you explain the astounding 4.7% increase it just posted with a nice 40 basis point improvement ? Yes, it is true we are now dealing with the closing of Sports Authority. But 4.7%? That's hardly dead, last I looked.
