Pro tip: Check the loading dock for old security logs

I crawled behind a dumpster at the old Oakridge Mall in San Jose and found a binder with daily foot traffic numbers from 2003. Turned out the food court was losing 40% of its visitors after a new highway exit opened. Has anyone else found old mall records that explained the closure timeline?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nancy17d ago

Roll your eyes if you want but 40% drop in foot traffic is actually pretty huge for a food court. Those places run on thin margins and losing almost half your customers overnight would definitely force closures. Nothing shady about that, just basic math.

parkernelson17d ago

Yeah, you're totally right about that "basic math" part. I've seen it happen before where people think big numbers like 40% aren't that bad, but that's almost half your customers gone. Those food court places usually run on a razor thin profit margin, like maybe 3-5% if they're lucky, so losing that many people in a day means they're bleeding money fast. It's rough because it's not like they can just cut costs overnight either, they've still got rent and staff to pay. Honestly feels bad for the small vendors who depend on that steady foot traffic to get by.