
The Death of Retail Is Overrated - heshiebee
https://www.restorationhardware.online/letters-blog1/fall-2018
======
MattGaiser
> It’s why we still go to theaters to watch movies, concerts to listen to
> music, ballparks to see a game, casinos to place a bet, and restaurants to
> grab a bite.

Aren’t we doing less of all those things?

Theatres are in decline.

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/business/media/movie-
thea...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/business/media/movie-theaters-
coronavirus.html)

Live sports in person attendance numbers are in decline.

[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/nobodys-going-to-
spo...](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/07/nobodys-going-to-sports-in-
person-and-no-one-seems-to-care.html)

Casinos are in decline.

[https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-
view/2014/...](https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-
view/2014/1203/With-fewer-young-people-gambling-time-for-a-government-rethink)

Not sure about restaurants overall, but I know since DoorDash and UberEats I
don’t go to them unless dragged.

I’m not convinced that the number of people who want those experiences is more
than 50% of the population, whereas before retail, movies, etc were fairly
universal.

~~~
jimbob45
Theaters for sure. We've had gift certificates to the theater sitting around
for years now that we can't be bothered to use.

Live sports, I'm not so sure. I imagine they make more money if I watch from
home than I'd they have to provide and clean a seat for me.

Casinos, for sure. I imagine the (totally not at all, guys) gambling in video
games is replacing regular casinos. I was actually quite far along in
interviewing for a slot machine company before the outbreak nixed my
opportunity. They ironically said that the gambling industry was one of the
most recession-proof industries. Unfortunately for them, a plague is the one
type of recession they're not immune to.

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tyrex2017
sounds like he is trying to first convince himself. i dont think he succeeded.

retail is too expensive to be worth it for the bottom 50%.

for me personally, i need top 5% money before the retail experience would be
worth its premium

of course, its laughable that i as an introvert techie think that others think
similar

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timwaagh
i thought with covid i'd finally become a 'mostly online' shopper, because of
safety. But no. Online shopping is still not a natural paradigm in a world
where deliveries take anywhere from a day to four weeks and offline shopping
takes an hour to the store and back. or less. theres a place for online, but
retail is still going to take 90% of my purchases.

------
jt2190
(2018)

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fmajid
The death of Restoration Hardware and it’s tree-decimating, hernia-inducing
catalogs cannot come soon enough as far as I am concerned.

