I think clothing stores should do okay for a while, people do generally prefer to try things on and know how it feels and looks straight away. I suppose if VR and CGI advance rapidly enough we'll have an app where we can scan our bodies onto a screen and see what we'd look like wearing various potential outfits in a variety of settings, sailing a boat, celebrating with work colleagues, flying a kite with a child, etc.
Originally posted by Surtur
I remember the way Toys R Us did videogames. You looked at the games. They had slips. You took the slip to some dude, he went into the back to fetch your game, then you got it.
Lol, I remember that. Bought plenty of Intellivision and Game Boy titles that way.
And you could hang out and try games before buying. Smaller shops during the comic boom took the concept and ran with it, all but encouraging kids to bring their friends and make a day of it.
It was fun, and we did buy our share if games (10 dollars was probably too much for NES TMNT. The owner also gave me a free guide after he closed up shop at the end of the boom..)
Originally posted by jaden101
Book stores are awesome for making people feel awkward. Go in and find the most offensive title or cover you can find then buy it with a huge smile on your face then walk out with it in your hands saying loudly "I can't WAIT to masturbate to this".
Ironic, as this is what I do when I go to Toys R Us.
Originally posted by BackFire
The one near me is always packed. People just sitting around reading books like it's a library. Not clear if they actually ever buy anything or not, though.
I used to do that in my younger days, hanging out with more artistically oriented friends and nervously pretending I got why they found an art book so interesting.
Bought a lot of King (Dark Tower!), some historical biographies, and various odds and ends..
In fact, the last time I went was that Wrestlemania in Jersey. Ran into an elderly russian woman clearly suffering from dementia that randomly started teaching us a nursery rhyme, and handed out flash cards on the poems (I have it in my sock drawer.)
The "people prefer to buy {X} in physical stores" argument rings a little hollow for me. The level of online shopping that happens today would have been inconceivable 15 years ago. And look at what's happening: groceries can be bought and shipped from online purchases. Clothing is becoming more and more online. Hell, I've purchased well-made, good-fitting suits online. And I'm in my 30s. B&N is the only non-indie book store with a significant retail presence, and it's been squeezed mightily as well in recent years. I go to B&N plenty, and there's lots of people. But not to buy books. It's a place where you can buy a coffee and biscuit, work on your laptop for hours on end without interruption, and you don't smell like a coffee shop by the end. Super convenient, but not a great business model long-term imo. And look at how Kindle has destroyed Nooks.
And once current teenagers hit the market in 5-10 years, how much more market share will shift from retail to online with their market entry? Now add in some better quality controls - which Amazon already has in the form of verified purchases and their reviews - and what's stopping us from clothes shopping? Or grocery shopping? Or...anything?!
I'm also embedded in the board gaming hobby, and this is an issue. "Support your local FLGS!" is a common mantra (friendly local game shop). But we all have bills to pay, and Amazon is objectively cheaper for the same stuff. And "board game cafes" are opening that recreate most of what we use FLGSs for (shared gaming space, occasional impulse purchases), but with a more sustainable model that includes legit F&B. So they're adapting and surviving, but it's no longer "retail" per se.
There's a fear that we turn this into "no retails stores" vs. "retail stores are fine" which is of course a false dichotomy. Retail store will always exist. But collectively, they're in huge trouble imo. Toys R Us is getting headlines atm. But the decline in shopping malls has been going on for years. Tech closures are common. And we'll continue to see these announcements until only the "too big to fail" crowd remains (Wal-Mart, etc.) along with local hybrids with a sustainable-but-not-scalable model (like the board game cafes I mentioned, or other indie shops with huge markups but "local" appeal), and online retailers.
Originally posted by Impediment
I'm actually surprised that Barnes & Noble is still open with Amazon, eBay, and digital books in competition.
People love the feel and smell of books, the feel of turning pages; reading one on a tablet doesn't compare if you need the physical and olfactory inputs to immerse yourself in the story/topic.