Candy For Idiots

I’ll tell you one thing, nothing says “recession” and “crap economy” like a 200,000 square-foot expansion at one of Nashville’s 99 local shopping malls!

The owners of CoolSprings Galleria plan a 200,000 square foot addition to the mall, an open-air shopping center with rooftop parking decks that will be built in 2011 on its existing parking lot.

“This is something we have wanted to do for a very long time, mainly because major retailers come to us and want to be part of CoolSprings Galleria and we have not had space for them,’’ said mall marketing director Dana Katterjohn.

The CoolSprings Galleria currently has a 99 percent occupancy rate, which makes it impossible to bring many new retailers, Katterjohn said.

I know that during the last recession, mall capacity rates were WELL ABOVE 99 percent! Oh wait… Could it be that things just aren’t as bad off as a lot of people are making them out to be? Hm, I think so!