I live in a healthy and safe small neighborhood in Montreal. We walk to local stores some of which are thriving, while others are dying. Quality of life is very high, and the price of homes keep on rising.
Thriving local commerces are service oriented: restaurants, pharmacies, grocery stores, hardware stores and dollar stores. Dying stores are product oriented mostly because of online shopping and big retail.
I do long for small local retail stores with good prices and products. The only way this could work is for specific verticals. I.e. men’s clothing. I imagine the store would need to be online first with a global recognized brand. The brick and mortor stores in local communities would become presence (a marketing cost, not a profit center). Frank ‘n Oak is an example of that. I would like to see more across more neighborhoods and verticals.
I found it interesting that the author of the post didn't mention online purchases once.
In my mind we are going through a shift in purchasing habits just like mail order retailers provided in the early 20th century. Set aside the subsidies to malls.
People actually prefer to purchase products online. Selection is better, pricing is better, it is easier to comparison shop, and it is delivered to your home. What's not to like (for many types of products)?
If you are in retail, selling the experience and other aspects of an in person interaction that can't be provided by an online retailer is the way to win. Some aspects include:
Community involvement
Interaction with experts
Immediacy
Hands on education
Cross selling consumables
Don't fight the battles of the past, and recognize that this is just one more evolution that the customer wants.
We probably are going to head further back toward the old catalog mode that is online purchasing.
But.
It's a drop in the bucket compared to the debt load killing box stores from all the leveraged buyouts, and that has nothing to do with consumer demands. It might have something more to do with corporate raiders running out of factories to raze.
> I found it interesting that the author of the post didn't mention online purchases once.
The author also focused on clothing stores though — something I at least am very unlikely to purchase online (pants being the exception — and only after having purchased a brand/size I like from brick and mortar).
Add restaurants to that and you have a good deal of retail that can coexist with online. But yes, book stores are perhaps dead.
Low interest rates, growing economy and young families wanting to stay in the city are the biggest drivers.
Chinese money in Montreal may affect condos however I am not exposed to that. Definitely not affecting house prices.
Thriving local commerces are service oriented: restaurants, pharmacies, grocery stores, hardware stores and dollar stores. Dying stores are product oriented mostly because of online shopping and big retail.
I do long for small local retail stores with good prices and products. The only way this could work is for specific verticals. I.e. men’s clothing. I imagine the store would need to be online first with a global recognized brand. The brick and mortor stores in local communities would become presence (a marketing cost, not a profit center). Frank ‘n Oak is an example of that. I would like to see more across more neighborhoods and verticals.