It was like a Ghost Town

Empty Parking Lot
Vero Beach Outlets, Vero Beach, FL
September 5, 2025

 Chris and I went on a shopping excursion yesterday. On a whim, we headed off to an outlet mall in Vero Beach. I felt it was time to expand our shopping area and thought heading off to one of the, what I thought was, premier outlet malls in the area would be fun. 

We drove for about an hour to arrive at the Vero Beach Outlets. The outlet mall is just off I-95 and is both well marked and easy to find. We expected to find a thriving economic area with a full parking lot, many busses and throngs of shoppers.

We found a ghost town. 

The place was nearly empty. We cruised the perimeter to find the shops we wanted to visit and noted many empty storefronts. The economic downturn, as evidenced in yesterday's jobs report, is real. We were part of a handful of shoppers. 

While we enjoyed shopping without crowds, it was a bit eerie. The complex seemed as if it had one foot in the grave on its way to total closure. The sales staffs in the stores were nice and provided individualized attention to us as we shopped. Chris bought a number of items because of the close-out pricing. AS this was a Chris focuses excursion, I did not do much "Bob" shopping.

Despite the desolate nature of the outlet mall, we had an enjoyable trip and we took a late lunch at Cracker Barrel before heading back to Tequesta. 

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL