The big empty drop-off [South Florida]
Retailers flounder as large stores abandon shopping centers
Television merchant Stan King is feeling lonely these days.
He stands in the parking lot of Park Plaza in Port Orange and looks out on hundreds of empty spaces in front of his store. It’s been like that, he said, ever since an Albertson’s supermarket closed its doors in the spring of 2005 and its discount replacement, Super Saver, failed a year later.
“It’s affected our walk-in traffic drastically,” said King, who has operated Royal Electronics at Park Plaza for 20 years. “Our walk-ins are down at least 50 percent. And the other businesses in here that depend on that kind of sales are all screaming, too.”