The Death of Brick-and-Mortar Retail.

This morning, I went out to get a new pair of shoes for myself and my spouse. There is a Payless store not far away, and we had been shopping there for years. As I approached the store, I saw the banners in the windows and a man outside on the corner holding a sign that has been seen for many other retail stores: GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE.

There's yer sign.
[Image from  Amazon.com]

Over the last 10 to 15 years, I've seen this happen more often than when I was in my 20's. Of course, the Internet as we now know it didn't exist, and e-shopping wasn't available. If you had a computer and a connection to what was the "World Wide Web", you did see some form of this, though more often it was to look up answers to questions, go into chatrooms, and download porn from UseNet groups. 

I've been everywhere, man...

[Image from "TheMemoryOfTrees", found on KnowYourMeme.com]

As the Internet evolved, more retailers saw the potential in using this platform for selling products without the cost of buildings, rent/lease, and a lot of employees. Consumers seem to like the convenience of not having to drive to a store and deal with a potentially surly staff member. The years of rolled by, and one by one, retail is stepping away from brick-and-mortar buildings to focus on digital retail. 

If it's not a common item, it's not in the store. 

[Image is ©Best Buy and owned by same]

I'm going to be 50 in a few weeks, so I've watched the paradigm shift in how retail business does...um...business. This is not a surprising change, though there are times when it can be inconvenient, like the closing of another local shoe outlet. I like to go in, try the shoes on for comfort and looks, then purchase. The idea of "blind purchase" of items such as this leaves me a bit cold. The other aspect to this is that with each company that shifts away from physical sales points to digital sales leaves a lot of people behind; that is, the employees. There are quite a number of retail workers who are really good at their jobs. With more stores fading away, I can only wonder where these people will find work. 

In the end, it's "progress", and certain types of progress are nigh-impossible to stop. We are shifting to logon, search item, look over item information, look at price, enter credit card number and address, and click the icon to make the purchase. There are certain retail types that can't be replaced with the digital store; fast food, grocery, and Walgreen's come to mind. Outside of those examples, I cannot see that many companies will continue with brick-and-mortar stores for much longer. If they last more than another 20 years, I will be surprised. The kicker of this blog? I need to go online to find a particular precision screwdriver and order it.

--Nerikull

All photos are posted under the precepts of Fair Use. The blogger owns none of the images. 

This blog is the sole opinion of Nerikull, and does not reflect any view of Google or its brands.

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