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The hidden culprit driving America’s apocalypse of boarded-up storefronts is the banks
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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Culprit?
You say it like its a bad thing.
We dont need brick and mortar storefronts for most industries now, only a small handful still need people to go in person.
All of these stores and parking lots could become affordable housing instead, and the companies can move to warehouse+distribution models which work infinitely better, are better for business, better for consumers, and better for the environment.
1 truck delivering 20 deliveries uses a fraction of the gas as 20 individual people driving to the store to pick up their item.
Dozens of locations can amalgamate into a single warehouse, using a fraction of the footprint and centralizing all their storage, production, distribution, and management.
Required workers to get the product into a persons hand reduce substantially, which means overhead costs go down, which means better profits for the company and better ability to compete on the market.
And consumers have the luxury of items being delivered right to their doorstep.
The only industries that still actually need brick and mortar shops really are:
Restaurants, for obvious reasons
Clothing/shoe/etc stores, since it's extremely difficult to gauge if clothing will be a good fit for you over the internet so you still want to be able to try clothing on in person before purchasing.
Any other "You really wanna try and verify it is a good fit before purchasing" style industries, like mattresses.
A small quantity of locations specifically targeting emergency needs, that typically are open 24/7. Convenience stores, late night pharmacies, etc. Anything in the realm of "Its 1 am and I need this right now" is worth having a brick and mortar shop for.
Pretty much everything else is just strictly better to just order it online.
This is funny to me because I buy my clothes, and even my mattresses, online. But I go into my local hardware store, and even the dollar store, frequently. You actually forgot to mention grocery stores. As an online shopper, my real problem with stores is that they never offer the best product. But they COULD. And then I would go to stores all the time.
You also make the delivery truck vs. passenger vehicle argument, but I'm gonna make the induced... Supply argument. I'm in my car anyway, going to the grocery store and then I go over to the next store. I run my errands all together, and never make a car trip to a specific store unless its an emergency. Strip malls are actually so much better than those big plaza (Walmart, big box stores) style shopping centers. But yeah the day it becomes safe to bike that trip I'm never looking back.