Venezuela's economic crisis catches up with malls

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Venezuela-s-economic-crisis-catches-up-with-malls-5424421.php

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Staring through a glass storefront at the Sambil shopping mall, Aleimar Sanchez sees more than a struggling business in the near-empty shelves of a Casio electronics store. She sees a country in sad decline.

Since its inauguration in 1999, Caracas' biggest mall has been a hive of frenzied shopping, a glitzy counterpoint to the anti-capitalist tirades of the late Hugo Chavez. Today, a few die-hard shoppers stroll through dimly lit corridors, past stained walls in need of a paint job, and shuttered boutiques. In those stores that are open, employees spread out their dwindling supply of garments, cellphones and designer bags on shelves and window displays.

Fifteen years of socialist rule and an acute economic crisis is catching up with Venezuela's shopping malls, once impenetrable oases of consumerism where rich and poor alike sought refuge from crime-ridden streets.

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With the supply of dollars drying up as oil production wanes, imports have fallen and shortages have hit record levels. Meanwhile, galloping 57 percent inflation is eroding families' purchasing power.