A shopper visits a suitcase store to take a vinyasa yoga class. When she’s done, she goes to a lecture about sleep science at a mattress store and she winds up at a women-in-business networking event at a clothing shop.
There isn’t a riddle. This is the future of retail.
Shopping is getting strangely personal as the leading lights of online retailers are opening millions of square feet of brand-new physical stores that are as much about experiences and events as they are products. This is happening as the so-called “retail apocalypse” is in full swing and several household-name retailers shutter their doors.
Brick-and-mortar is thriving. Brick-and-mortar is dying. Critics and boosters are both right, and what separates the haves and have nots of retail expansion is a mixture of philosophy and data.