Where Have All the Stores Gone

I took off this past weekend for a shopping trip.  I usually don't do such a trip in August anymore.  I prefer September when the best selection of Halloween products are out.This year, however, I went early so I could visit the last nearby Sears before it closed for good.  Unfortunately, I didn't get anything there.  Over the decades, (yes, I had been going to that location since the early 1980's once a year, but I didn't start going more than that until the mid-90s) I had bought many things from there.  Not every time, but fairly regularly.  In fact, I got some things there just my last visit this past winter. This one-last time though, I found nothing.  I was looking for fairly specific items, that I thought they would have, but they either were out or they never had them.  Strangely enough, some sections were already empty, even though the clearance sales weren't supposed to have started until that Saturday.  I have the suspicion that instead of being sold out, the items were removed because the manufacturer didn't want their products to be so highly discounted.  How else to explain that the entire men's section of Levi's were gone, save one shirt on a model?  I really didn't need another new pair of jeans, but it never hurts to look.  While there might have been something I could've have bought, I didn't really see anything that I wanted.  One of the worst parts were finding the Reeboks that I needed, only to find the section all but cleared and out of my size in the few varieties left.  That wasn't all.  Many other stores in the same mall were closing or had already left.  I am starting to worry about it.  Unless a new anchor is found, one whole end of the mall could die.  With even more closings expected, I'm not sure if the mall could last.  That mall was the first one I went to that I had clear memories of and that I actually wanted to go to.  I have dim memories of going to one or two others when I was much younger, but I didn't realize how special they were at that time.  Visiting there allowed me access to things I never got to explore around home.  Even after the selection around home grew, I was still able to find a few treasures there that I couldn't find anywhere else.  Sure, there were time where I went there and didn't buy a single thing at any of the stores.  Not a one.  But, that wasn't too often.  A few times I thought of not going so often, but I never did change my frequency.  Now, I worry.  I still go to another mall or two at other times of the year, but this weekend really hurt.  Especially with what is going on with my own store and how much longer I can keep it going.  The thing is, I have don't almost everything, but nothing is working.  I have even tried asking others for help, but few ideas are coming in.  It's almost like no one cares anymore.  Shopping out used to be the only reason I went anywhere, and now that thrill is fading away along with the reasons why.