Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has pushed them to the edge

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by noir_lord on Saturday April 24, 2021 @04:29AM (#26923293)

We are 3 up (two adults, 1 child) in a 2 bed flat (apartment) with no garden and for the last year both my partner and I have been WFH full time (in my case I changed job to one that is 100% remote forever).

I couldn't agree more, the transition for me was trivial - I'm a developer who plays games, I already had a nice chair, two 27" 4K displays and a fast desktop so for me my hardware/comfort improved - for my partner work issued her a just about passable laptop and..well that was it.

With the lack of space I used a spare 27" monitor I had putting it on the boys desk with a decent external mouse/keyboard and we bought him a gaming chair - that way my partner can use his room as an office while he's at school/his fathers but yeah it's not be great for her.

We are moving next year and my only criteria for the house is at has to have either a large brick built garage or a concrete garage and space for an office pod in the garden, working from home around a near-teenager was challenging (and frankly that's just gonna get worse) and long term not something I want - I need quiet solitude to work most comfortably.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by alistairSH on Saturday April 24, 2021 @08:09AM (#26924316)

Just curious, where are you that you're moving from a small-ish flat to a home with enough garden space for a stand-alone ADU/man-cave/office?

I assume you're moving out of the city and into the suburbs or similar?

I wonder if the last year of WFH will actually make suburban sprawl worse in the short- to medium-term? Lots of people moving out of city flats into suburban homes for just the reasons you mention. I can't blame them, but it's probably not sustainable either. [and easy for me to say, as I already own a suburban home]

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by ghaff on Saturday April 24, 2021 @08:32AM (#26924421)

Many demographics were moving out of American cities through at least the mid-90s. A city like Boston was losing population until that time. The influx of, especially, college-educated young people is fairly recent. There's no particular reason to think it has to continue.

I know a bunch of people who were in urban apartments who have moved to larger places a number of hours out. There's a huge spike in real estate prices outside of cities now.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by noir_lord on Saturday April 24, 2021 @10:57AM (#26925312)

Apartment thats 10m from city center I had when we got together to a much larger house in a smaller town on the outskirts (actually the town I grew up in, small world).

I'm in the UK but in the north earning a southern developers salary so that gives us a lot of options.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by lowercased on Saturday April 24, 2021 @07:32AM (#26924133)

"around a near-teenager ... and long term not something I want..."

"long term" they won't be a near-teenager, or even teenager. ;). I do understand the quiet solitude for work issue though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by cableshaft on Saturday April 24, 2021 @06:07AM (#26923730)

Oooh, garden office pod sounds intriguing. Do you have a good example of what sort of office pod you'd like to have?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Mall department stores were struggling; the pandemic has ... by noir_lord on Saturday April 24, 2021 @07:09AM (#26924017)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuFcc2aNkp8 something like one of these.

[ Parent | on HN ]