- Thread starter PICHARDO
- Start date
Bella Terra Mall. Santiago.
From all over the world just in case you say not common...
As for the Bella Terra Mall pictures and the bags, if you would have notice with some clear mind, you'll see what area of the Mall the pictures were taken at... Unlike these above...
Once again, PICHARDO uses his favorite excuse of "it happens everywhere" and does not get that what matters here is the DR and its Mall Walkers without bags.
I have been to this mall on a weekend and there is quite a bit of foot traffic. I think part of the problem is the size of the malls here and the less concentrated populations compared to somewhere like NYC or Miami. Another issue is the fact that Dominicans don't shop in the same way Americans do. They typically do not just go to a mall to browse, at least I don't. If my wife or I go to the mall we know what we are going to buy before we even get there. It is uncommon for us to see something in the window and say.. HEY I'm gonna buy that too, we have a budget in mind before we get there and we spend it, go to the movies, and get out. Americans on the other hand will say to each other, hey let's just go to the mall and walk around, pick up chicks, look at merchandise. That's not a common thing here.
So the whole Mall consists of a hall where the stores are still vacant and the kiddie shop behind you?
LOL!!!!
The yang to your ying.
The mall, while nice, was very vacant. I should have taken a picture of the underground parking lot: there were empty spaces right by the every elevator. And you KNOW how Dominicans would run over the Pope for a space next to the front door...
None of the stores looked busy. 3 guys in Hooters. A few folks casually walking around. We were the only patrons in the kids store. I sure hope they made enough gross profit from the RD$420 squirt gun pack (Jack Russell training tools:cheeky
to pay for the 9 employees I intentionally counted there. The customer service was tops, however. We asked where they had squirt guns and a 4 employee parade ensued... It did NOT smell of great economic commerce.
But maybe it's that famous...and mysterious...Dominican business model we're told of that allows an entrepreneur to make excessive profits from an empty store.
International, visited a half hour earlier, had a few more shoppers, but not many more.
The yang to your ying.
The mall, while nice, was very vacant. I should have taken a picture of the underground parking lot: there were empty spaces right by the every elevator. And you KNOW how Dominicans would run over the Pope for a space next to the front door...
None of the stores looked busy. 3 guys in Hooters. A few folks casually walking around. We were the only patrons in the kids store. I sure hope they made enough gross profit from the RD$420 squirt gun pack (Jack Russell training tools:cheeky
It did NOT smell of great economic commerce.
But maybe it's that famous...and mysterious...Dominican business model we're told of that allows an entrepreneur to make excessive profits from an empty store.
International, visited a half hour earlier, had a few more shoppers, but not many more.
So only one picture for the inquiring masses! You love to use Chinese torture! LOL!!!
This mall like any other that has started to fill up for biz in the DR, will take time to have shoppers flock as they do now at other shopping centers. About international? Pretty much always with shoppers and people BUYING with bags in their hands.
It's a matter of timing and being able to see that biz is not the type of foot traffic you're used to back home in the states. The DR's pace of biz is not frantic and dense, but relaxed and pretty loose.
A mall in the DR is not a carbon copy of what you're used to in the mall back home in the US...
Then why do you post pictures of malls in the US where shoppers act like they do in the DR?
Go back and read the posts and just don't look at the pictures alone! There are words with those pictures and before them!
Aye! Aye! Aye!
I did.
Someone said people at the malls don't have shopping bags. So you posted pics of a US mall where few had bags.
That's my point.
You can't say "just like in the states" then say "it's not like in the states."
Biz happens to a very different tune and if after living here for the long you have already and still can say that it's the same, then I can't help you see it at all.
What's the same, it's the fact that people do go to malls and loiter about without having to actually buy goods, but some food and drinks. That aspect remains the same all over the world where a mall is present!
Now, if you can honestly say that biz is the same beat as in the states here or mostly elsewhere, then I believe you would be lying to yourself on that more so.
It's that simple! Aye!
Explain to me exactly how a P&L and Balance Sheet is different for the DR economy than the rest of the world.
You keep saying it's "different" but cannot make a economic case. A "beat" has no basis in business financial analysis, something I know a little about.
But I said the same thing about Cap Cana and the Trump project based on my visits there and the retort was "you don't know what you're talking about, it's wildly successful, Trump is no dummy, and it will be the crown jewel of Caribbean developments. Here, look at the pictures." And it died.
Let me repeat my finding: Bella Terra is a nice Mall. And Bella Terra is dead, at least dead as far as businesses in it that have enough business to pay the rent. I guess I've been there maybe 8-10 times since it opened (enjoyed Hooters immensely, but were the ONLY customers from 4-5pm on a Thursday afternoon; well, two guys were coming in as we were leaving...). Each time has been the same: many spaces, low occupancy, a few splashy stores...
...
...and few buying customers.
Just my personal, first-hand observations. But a nice place.
Sorry but of this you know jack!
First of all, not all economies work the same even when the utilize the same system based on a currency, trade and actions that demand that flow. Does a restaurant in Dubai represents the same breakdown of activity as it does in NYC? Can you say liquor for one!
Let't look at it from a simpler perspective: I own gas stations in the US and my brother owns gas stations in the DR. They are both the same biz, are they not? Based on a margin of profits that derivate from each gallon sold for a profit!
But that's where all similarities end as biz and the differences pile up from one another!
In the US the station profit margins are dictated by competition and demand. You can even be one penny lower and remain competitive on the profit end over your closest competitor. In the DR there's no such thing as demand driven margin of profits, they are mandated and regulated by the gov to the fullest!
In the US the station is not only a gas fill-up supply market, but one that splits profit margins on the dispenser and the inside mart sales. The profits are not dependent on the gas prices on the boards, but constant on the markup and demand.
In the DR there's little to see on that margin, save for a very reduced number of stations, which primarily profit from beer and liquor sales the most. The snacks and food are menial margins of profit, if any quantitative.
The we move unto the next level: Whilst in the US you can expand your gas end sales and therefore your margins by actively engaging on a competitive platform, in the DR this is not possible at all!
Now another simple perspective:
A mall or shopping plaza in the DR pays a rate of taxes that's largely unchanged for long terms. In the US this is not even close to reality! How may Mall or plazas get built in the US using mostly self funding? 5% if much at all?
How much does a Mall or shopping plaza pays in taxes each year? Thereafter?
How much does the same type of biz pays in the DR and thereafter?
How many at times a person decides to visit a Mall or shopping plaza in the US to directly purchase something they aimed to buy and how much shopping takes place on impulse thereafter?
Is the same equally true in the DR?
Biz experience and studies have shown that the DR economy is driven primarily based on direct purchases, very little impulse buying takes place. In the Us the reverse is true, as most shoppers visit those shopping centers without the principal intention of buying an item they wanted in the first place, but do more window shopping and impulse buying than any other type of purchasing options studied.
Can a Mall or shopping plaza in the US retain economic operations with low foot traffic? The answer has been clearly no for a long time. In the DR it's common for shopping centers to fall out of fashion and yet keep their doors open for very, very long times, with a very less than 1% having to shut down or be remade into something else to keep going.
Most shopping centers only need a good one or two anchors or popular stores to remain in biz for as long as they can continue to offer services there, unlike in the USA.
The dynamics of the DR economy are not alike those of the USA. Some factors are parallel by virtue of human action and copying. Others are not translated or interchangeable between the two.
Another simple perspective:
Most DR biz are home start-ups that later move onto the formal biz by going to stores or shopping centers. Even when the biz may seen slow and deserted to the untrained eye, the home biz never disappeared when the formality came in.
You my friend are the prime example of why the informal biz owner that starts from home is strong, much more than most biz can be in the US malls or shopping centers with high levels of foot traffic.
You can go formal and open a store and the expenses of that store will be easy to cover as the biz itself never left the home-office. Any single walk in is xmass for the biz, even when only a few per the whole day.
That's the elemental dissimilarities of the biz models in the USA and DR.
I'm quite tired of repeating this over and over again here on DR1 to all expats living for years in the country and yet, still haven't grasped the more basic of this economic system.
I admit Pichardo exaggerates but let's just suppose that the owners of Bella Terra Mall are already filthy rich and had the capital to do the project. I don't know what space is renting for but I image it has to be a premium price. Therefore, to do a real analysis someone needs to post the actual rental price per square meter and the actual amount of space rented on average and compare that to the operation and maintenance cost before someone can say for sure this business can't float itself.
This is based on numerous years in the development field and having worked for numerous filthy rich people who were looking to invest their millions as opposed to putting them in a bank. My two cents.
This is based on numerous years in the development field and having worked for numerous filthy rich people who were looking to invest their millions as opposed to putting them in a bank.
My two cents.
This is based on numerous years in the development field and having worked for numerous filthy rich people who were looking to invest their millions as opposed to putting them in a bank.
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