The history of retail architecture over the past century has been about two things: improvement of logistics and an increase in scale. The small shopkeeper will always exist because certain locations and certain services don't or can't benefit from a larger store. On a practical level, scale triumphs, and although certain business founder, like Bradlee's, others take their place, like Wal-Mart. So, I found an article in today's Boston Globe interesting because it described the phenomenon of box stores that are strategically reducing the size of their stores to save on rent, and presumably to improve service.
The spectre of the possibility that one day we will buy everything at Amazon and never browse in person again is something that weighs heavily on the business planners at stores like Best Buy, Staples and Target. In some respects, the shift towards this new retail landscape is being reflected in the construction of massive distribution centers, which are the functional equivalent of the server centers where this blog lives. There is no end point for retail architectural. The souk will always flourish and the experience of shopping online will remain fundamentally different from the unplanned purchases that are still a critical part of the retail experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment