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On one hand, online shopping does a lot that Brick and Mortar just can't do. Selection, delivery, economies of scale, 24/7 "shopping".
But what no one is taking about is a lot of major "social changes" have happened in the USA that have made operating a Brick and Mortar not just suddenly costly, but down right legally and PHYSICALLY dangerous.....as well as impossibly inconvenient for good customers.
Other day I visited the big Walgreens in Morgan Hill to pick up sunscreen, DEET, etc. Not only do they have a Cattle Chute system for processing shoppers and shop-lifters, all the bottles of cheap low grade shampoo etc are locked behind armored cages....AND only one employee has the keys and they busy somewhere else because 95% of employees can't even be trusted with the keys to $1.29 bottles of shampoo.
There is a "shop keepers privilege" which kinda helps, but I can't help but notice for a private citizen any theft "in their presence" can be a FELONY, regardless of value. Given all the requirements for LP to actually OBSERVE to make a bust, why ain't shoplifting a Felony for anyone over 18yrs? OK, I know the real answer: Prison Overcrowding.
Back in the old days, the Added Value of B&M shopping exp. was that the shopkeeper could multitask and both manage his stock and provide expert advice. Today, a shopkeeper is expected to bear the brunt of other people's massively failed massive Social Experiments, and those that try to stay competitive by scrimping on Security are soon painted as targets.
How many people in Security especially retail LP would dare open a retail store of their own these days? Even besides actual theft you got people with no money coming in who act like they are Royalty disarranging and damaging the merchandise.
I was listening to a gaggle of older women and they all had ideas of "opening their own boutique" when they were younger, but couldn't, but NOW they maybe could....except that today any retail is going to come under attack by a huge sector of the population, and throw-downs and standoffs with low-lifes just doesn't fit with their vision of a nice "boutique".
And that is just from the shopkeepers perspective. A few months ago one of the door locks on my van busted, and even though it was invisible from the outside it totally shutdown me shopping at any stores besides gas-stations and even then, and even in tony Walnut Creek I was like a momma bear watching her cubs. Even in up-scale malls with robust Security these days even as a 250lb ex-construction worker driving a beater, and wearing rags, I feel a need to "be aware of my surroundings" with we all know is a PC-code phrase.
Online Shopping: Its the Gated Community of retail.
But what no one is taking about is a lot of major "social changes" have happened in the USA that have made operating a Brick and Mortar not just suddenly costly, but down right legally and PHYSICALLY dangerous.....as well as impossibly inconvenient for good customers.
Other day I visited the big Walgreens in Morgan Hill to pick up sunscreen, DEET, etc. Not only do they have a Cattle Chute system for processing shoppers and shop-lifters, all the bottles of cheap low grade shampoo etc are locked behind armored cages....AND only one employee has the keys and they busy somewhere else because 95% of employees can't even be trusted with the keys to $1.29 bottles of shampoo.
There is a "shop keepers privilege" which kinda helps, but I can't help but notice for a private citizen any theft "in their presence" can be a FELONY, regardless of value. Given all the requirements for LP to actually OBSERVE to make a bust, why ain't shoplifting a Felony for anyone over 18yrs? OK, I know the real answer: Prison Overcrowding.
Back in the old days, the Added Value of B&M shopping exp. was that the shopkeeper could multitask and both manage his stock and provide expert advice. Today, a shopkeeper is expected to bear the brunt of other people's massively failed massive Social Experiments, and those that try to stay competitive by scrimping on Security are soon painted as targets.
How many people in Security especially retail LP would dare open a retail store of their own these days? Even besides actual theft you got people with no money coming in who act like they are Royalty disarranging and damaging the merchandise.
I was listening to a gaggle of older women and they all had ideas of "opening their own boutique" when they were younger, but couldn't, but NOW they maybe could....except that today any retail is going to come under attack by a huge sector of the population, and throw-downs and standoffs with low-lifes just doesn't fit with their vision of a nice "boutique".
And that is just from the shopkeepers perspective. A few months ago one of the door locks on my van busted, and even though it was invisible from the outside it totally shutdown me shopping at any stores besides gas-stations and even then, and even in tony Walnut Creek I was like a momma bear watching her cubs. Even in up-scale malls with robust Security these days even as a 250lb ex-construction worker driving a beater, and wearing rags, I feel a need to "be aware of my surroundings" with we all know is a PC-code phrase.
Online Shopping: Its the Gated Community of retail.
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