The current state of retail (1 Viewer)

[Phil Elliott]

We went to Cheesecake Factory yesterday for early dinner (4:30) and it was about two thirds empty. Then went to a dept store (Dillards fwiw). There was one other person on the second floor shopping. Had to look around for someone to open a dressing room and looked like about three fourths of the checkout computers have been removed.

This must be dependent on where you live, our mall has 2 dillars with 2 floors each and both have plenty of people each time you go.

In addition there is a large cheesecake factory there with a giant menu of "meh" food. That menu is so large you think you can find something that will taste good, but you would be wrong. It is generally fairly crowded though.

The store was in the Domain which is the newest of the three main malls in Austin (Lakeline and Barton Creek the other two). The Domain is a pretty trendy area with a "live here, eat here, shop here" concept. Dillards not so trendy right now and is on the south edge of the mall area. For eats, I had the Thai fried avocado lettuce wraps and quite a few pieces of their sour dough and sweet rye bread. The peanut sauce was the best of the three sauces they served. Passed on the cheese cake.