Do you mourn the death of retail?

I don’t mourn it, but the loss of retail “ centers” will be one of the changes that I will find tough. I liked going someplace to hang with my friends, and/or go on a mission to find that consumer product I wanted.
I liked looking at the products and physically checking out their quality.
But everything changes.
Given my history for the last 20 years, I’m just happy to be here

Nope. I hate shopping and do about 95% of it online. Maybe all the malls will close and we can build some affordable housing here in California.

This afternoon, I went to Nordstrom, a place that remains the best of retail. I needed hosiery and socks, items that often disappoint when purchased online. Before buying, I wanted to see the colors and feel the textures – the true shopping experience. I was helped by a lovely salesclerk and found exactly what I’d wanted.

I buy many things online. But, if retail ever does die, I’ll miss it greatly.

I never really liked department stores, I have always preferred specialty shops, like Brooks Brothers Give me a store that knows an area exceedingly well, not a place sells all. Macy’s Sears, Was-Mart, just the same type of store with different price levels.

Going to a retail center, especially a mall, is more than just going and buying things. It is an interaction with others. It is actually going out and getting face to face with other human beings. Sometimes it is pleasurable, sometimes not…but it is real. When we do all our shopping on line, we lose that social interaction. I consider that a loss.

@seawulf575 I agree with you on that!

Okay…I’m starting to get a complex. First @Chyna agrees with me and now @janbb? I must be getting soft! ;-)

^^ Scary, isn’t it?

Number 3, @seawulf575, I agree with you, too. Not soft, old. Where I live, our mall just opened a new, big, department store to fill J C Penney’s empty space. I am delighted. I much prefer brick and mortar.

Holy crap! I agree with @seawulf575 as well on this, what is this world coming to?

I actually like departments stores somewhat, especially old-style ones that have their own buildings and are not part of a shopping mall property.

And I dislike truisms about “the death of” (something).

I will mourn if my beloved Macys closes. Trying on clothes and getting personal service is fun!

I think the notion premature. We still have lots of stores here.

It doesn’t seem premature around here – a lot of the old chains have shuttered.

Still waiting for replicators. They will replace online shopping. We have some 3d printed stuff now. I don’t miss bricks and mortar stores.

Another in agreement with the submariner.

I remember when I sold kayaks, people would come in and talk to me about what to buy. I would sometimes spend over 30 minutes in an interaction. It was common for them to straight up tell me that they were going to go home and order the boat we had for cheaper online. We lost a LOT of sales to online stores.

Not only I mourn it, buying on line is fine for some but retail lets you see the item,touch the item ask questions, and gives you a place to return it if it turns out to be a hunk of shit.
You can make sure all the parts are there before you take it home.

Online, sure you can return it, sometimes they pay the return shipping most times you do,then wait for the item to be fixed or replaced.
Online is great when you absolutely can’t find it in the stores,but I would still rather buy it in the stores if I had the chance.
So yeah I mourn the death of the retail store, but we only have our selves to blame for it.

I do mourn it. But as a involuntary non-participating consumer, I’m part of why it died.

I had no great attachment to walking the retail outlets, and the era when I was compelled to do so was noteworthy for the ever growing displeasure with the experience. Those trips were usually about provisioning the kids, and had the same effect on my outlook and disposition as those day long excursions to the amusement parks.

It’s interesting when you think about it, that Sears built its formidable retail empire largely through catalog shopping by those isolated from its retail outlets. You would think they should have seen this coming.

It isn’t just the death of retail in the UK, it is the death of the entire High Street which is being reduced to charity shops, vacant lots, bookies and pubs. There seems to be a whole class of affluent middle aged citizens who are no longer seen shopping in the city centre.

I also agree with @seawulf575 about the value of face to face contact. Is there a blue moon tonight?

@KNOWITALL… when I was a kid, and dreaming of getting my driver’s license, I used to dream of driving my friend and myself to the Macy’s in downtown Wichita. They had a glassed-in walk way high in the air that spanned a busy road below. You could also eat lunch there.
Ok. Now this is sad. Very sad.

But you guys…the retail stores mean the death of the mom and pop stores. And the mom and pop stores meant the death of people doing it for themselves.
And now the mega stores, like Walmart and Amazon mean the death of the retail stores. It’s the same cycle, different generation.

@Dutchess_III Of coourse. And as @stanleybmanly pointed out, Sears started as mail order for those who couldn’t get to retail stores. So it does cycle. And perhaps some smaller niche stores in cities will survive and even thrive as a counter balance. But it’s still sad.

It’s the inevitable result of capitalism…

From a financial POV, it’s not a bad result either. It makes things less expensive for the consumer. That’s another result of capitalism.

Yes. But eventually there will be a huge loss of jobs. As soon as companies can afford it, they outsource everything, and move all their factories, and warehouses to another/cheaper labor country. Then we lose the jobs, and all local benefits of the business. Entire cities die from such things. That’s bad…

The US needs to do something about that. The US needs to look at the reason the jobs go overseas.

There is a thriving 2nd hand market where I live. I meet and talk to so many different people doing that than I ever have at a mall or big box store. Retail is still alive and kicking here too, especially restaurants.

Another thing, jobs are not all leaving, some are coming here from overseas.

There are something retail just can touch…like flea markets and second hand stores.

I didn’t say that all jobs were leaving.

But that’s what happens with large corporations. Ever speak to a person in India, when dealing with a large business’s customer support? If not, I don’t see how. Those are ALL jobs that could have been held by Americans.

Trump’s tariff war, only hurts manufacturing, and many other businesses. Not a lot of companies in a hurry to come “here.”

Companies like Harley Davidson, have indicated that they will be moving their factories to Asia, as a direct result of tariffs. Nail companies, farmers, and everyone in between are starting to feel the effects of Trump’s “trade war.”

Tariffs do no real good for anyone , and Trump is too fucking stupid to realize that.
It’s already hurt a lot of jobs in the states like soy bean farmers for one,that he had to help bail out to the sum of 12 billion dollars ,could you imagine if that was Obama’s fuck up, the Rep/cons would have had a stroke but since it was Trumps baby all is fine.

Not really. I was just at Target tonight (which I really like) and they were pretty busy. There’s specialty shops that I like and my wife and daughter love Nordstrom.

Other than that, I’m happy to order most stuff online.

I never shopped in Lord and Taylor and Sears much (I worked in Lord and Taylor a short time) but I do dread brick and mortar retailing disappearing. The stores where I live are always very busy, and I live near Orlando which has stores PACKED with people shopping and buying, but I know most parts of America this is not the case.

I prefer being able to touch the fabric, try on the clothes, and see the true color.

I don’t enjoy shopping in any sort of chronic way. I don’t want to go often, but when I go I like to be able to buy several different things at once. Department stores were the “malls” of their time when they first started. Many different departments, and even restaurants, so you could spend everal hours. I would hate to see Bloomingdales or Macy’s close down completely. I worked at both once upon a time.

Is it the attraction of shopping in your underwear, or the fact you didn’t have to face any real people why on line shopping became such a huge hit?
Is the cost saving that big over retail?
I will admit I have done it but only as a last resort because I couldn’t find what I was looking for in a retail store,if they had the item I would have bought it retail.
I thought this wonder tech was supposed to bring us closer together, but it seems to keep us further apart, fuck we don’t even like talking to each other on the phone any more just tap a quick message on your mini computer (cell phone) and send it off.
Because (GASP) actually talking to a real person would be bad.

For me, there isn’t any “death” to one segment, just a change.

I ordered a lot through catalogs in the seventies and eighties, including all kinds of stuff from REI in Seattle, and from the Lands End catalog. So that shifts to online and saves paper.

Big retailers come in and crowd out the good stores where people get to know you. I’d rather go to my local bike shop or local book store or local shoe store than go to Performance Bikes or Barnes and Noble.

In theory.

I like the idea that I can shop at these stores when I want to. But the reality is that I’m part of the reason why they’re failing. It’s just so much easier to order online and get it shipped to your house.

The only thing that I still make a point to buy from a brick and mortar are books from our local book store.

¡Viva la librería!

Time is the issue for me. A couple of clicks and a couple of days and it’s at my door. Not having to get out and fight traffic, crowds and waste a couple hours when I need to be doing other things is a game changer.

I used to love Amazon and Newegg. But they have completely fucked up the trust. I have spent around three grand in last few months in brick and mortar stores prepping for chemo/radiation.

It started with Amazon and some stuff that is a clear liquid that is to treat the water in my fishtank. I bought some on Amazon that is a trusted brand (Seachem). Then I was in a local fishtank store and noticed the the label on what I bought on Amazon was different from what was in the local pet store.

So I bought the local stuff and tested both. The amazon shit was a knock-off that did nothing. Cool, that might be why my fish died. Then I started getting knock-off pants and shoes from Amazon. And this is shit that is fulfilled by amazon. Google comingled inventory. It is a huge problem. Never buy batteries/laptop/phone chargers on Amazon. It is nearly all fake.

Now I am back to buying in actual stores when I can. With price matching it doesn’t really cost more.

I hate the “fulfilled by” crap too and it’s getting harder to avoid.

“prepping for chemo/radiation” @johnpowell I sure hope that does not mean what I think it does.

Yeah, it means what you think. Probably shouldn’t have dropped that there.

I guess I could post something in meta about it.

^^ Yes, please elaborate in Meta.

@zenvelo Did you mean that with bigger retailers going towards online maybe the smaller mom and pop stores might have more of a chance again in the local community?

@johnpowell :(

@JLeslie With large department stores like Sears, JCPenny, and Macy’s all having problems while stocked with lower quality items, good local retail outlets can compete.

If it were up to me, the big malls would all be converted to affordable housing, with plenty of small local retailers and a grocery store integrated into the premises.

@zenvelo, I like the idea of little arcologies dotted about the countryside!

@zenvelo From your mouth to G-d’s ears. That would be lovely. I am more a proponent of small stores than chain stores for sure, if that is what it devolves to.

@zenvelo I love converting the malls to mixed use projects. Very interesting idea.

I am more bothered by the excessive development, you can’t drive for 10 minutes without running into cookie-cutter shopping centers in every town. I don’t like that at all, too much concrete, our obsession with shopping is gross.

@ANef_is_Enuf And most of them will be empty soon but I don’t disagree.

“Our obsession with shopping is gross.” I second that. Along with our obsession with eating.

@Dutchess_III Even Egg Mcmuffins?

Every one of these schools I’ve been in, since I started subbing, feeds the kids twice a day, besides their regular breakfast and lunch. They come in with a snack between breakfast and lunch, and after lunch at about 2:00. Some of the kids are snacking on chips during class, all fecking day. It’s fecking ridiculous.
Once upon a time it was a societal rule that you did NOT eat in front of other people because it’s rude. You did not bring food or candy to class unless you brought enough for everyone.
That is the obsession I am referring to, @janbb. Not eating an Egg McMuffin because I’m hungry because when I haven’t eaten for 12 hours or more.
I also do not have a weight problem.

And that’s how retail dies. Not with a bang, but with a snack. ~

Yup! And speaking of…I’m starving! (Not literally. I actually ate yesterday at about 4:00. It’s 1:30 pm the next day (today) now.)