<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/ee01faf1-4da9-40fd-b01e-a712aa26dee1/4FAA58B7-F454-48F9-83A7-77525C467A23/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html" style="font-size: 11px;">online.wsj.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html"><P>In the 12 months ended March 31, U.S. malls collectively posted a 6.5% decline in tenants' same-store sales, according to Green Street Advisors Inc., a real-estate research firm. The recent slump was led by an average 7.3% sales drop at <A class="companyRollover link11unvisited" href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=spg">Simon Property Group</A> Inc., the operator with the largest number of mall locations.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html">The industry's woes are worsening. Thinning customer traffic, and subsequent hits to tenants' sales and profits, prompted Standard & Poor's Corp. last month to lower the credit ratings of the department-store sector. That knocked <A class="companyRollover link11unvisited" href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=m">Macy's</A> Inc. and <A class="companyRollover link11unvisited" href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=jcp">J.C. Penney</A> Co. into junk territory and pushed others deeper into junk. <A class="companyRollover link11unvisited" href="http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/main.html?type=djn&symbol=SHLD">Sears Holdings</A> Corp., a cornerstone tenant at many malls, is expected to close 23 stores this month and next.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html">For towns and cities that are home to dying malls, the fallout can be devastating.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html">Commonly, "the mall will be a meeting place, or, in some cases, like a city center," </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294047987244803.html"> "It can become a crime magnet."</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/4FAA58B7-F454-48F9-83A7-77525C467A23/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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