Retail of woe
Friends, it's still hot here in central Kentucky, but, hey, it's July, so you have to believe it's gonna be this way, right?
We've gotten some local news recently that I found very interesting. Of all companies, Wal-Mart is closing some stores in our vicinity. You're reading that correctly. They're closing the remaining "general merchandise" store in Lexington, which means that the store that's going away isn't a SuperCenter. I forgot there were still stores like that, given that Wal-Mart was a client of mine some twenty years ago and the SuperCenter was a relatively new concept at that point.
Anyway, this particular location is directly across a major road from a Kroger Marketplace store, and company management apparently determined that they could not adequately compete without adding a grocery department to this store, and that apparently wasn't possible.
They're closing a similar store in Louisville, as well as two of their Neighborhood Markets. Quick aside--I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart, having seen up close how they operate, but I do like the convenience of the Neighborhood Market we have in our area. Smallish, well-stocked and lots of self-scan checkout lanes make it a good place to pick up a couple of items.
Worth remembering that this comes almost directly on the heels of the final closure of Toys R Us.
The news caused me to think about stores that used to exist and now don't. Way back when, we had both Best Buy and Circuit City (incidentally, Best Buy recently announced that they're no longer selling CDs but are selling the trendier and more expensive vinyl records, so everything old is new again). We liked the latter, and they're gone now, at least in the U.S. There also were both Bed Bath and Beyond and Linens and Things, and, again, we liked the latter, now defunct. Think how many large department store chains are gone, too, not to mention those that are now Macy's but used to be independent of the larger corporate parent.
There are actual websites that show photos of old shopping malls, in the "before" and "after" states, which are kind of fun but a little depressing. Think how many mall staples we used to see ONLY in malls, like Thom McAn shoes or Bombay Company or Camelot Music or WaldenBooks and on and on and on.
Yet there are those brave people who are convinced they can enter the retail space and make a go of it. Since I'm a big fan of my Apple Macintosh computers (yes, that's the "correct" name for a Mac), I was pleased to see Lexington be the home of first one then later a different alternative to the Apple Store, just for the sake of variety and access. Both went out of business in less than a year.
There's a store not far from our house called Your Name Here. Their entire business is built around personalized items, which is not a new concept, but certainly a niche. They're on one end of a secondary shopping center that lacks a major anchor store, so it's a little difficult to tell what kind of traffic they get.
And in a larger center also not far away there's an establishment that sells custom-pressed juices. I probably sound like a hick when I say this, but that's the type of business that probably thrives in a far more health-conscious area like southern California, but they're still there after almost a year.
I like the concept of "shopping local" but they have to have what you need, of course.
Retail is not dead, of course, it's simply evolving, as I've written here before. I'm looking for a certain clothing item right now and am a little surprised to find so few places that I can buy what I want, so I may have to take this little wish online to find it.
We've gotten some local news recently that I found very interesting. Of all companies, Wal-Mart is closing some stores in our vicinity. You're reading that correctly. They're closing the remaining "general merchandise" store in Lexington, which means that the store that's going away isn't a SuperCenter. I forgot there were still stores like that, given that Wal-Mart was a client of mine some twenty years ago and the SuperCenter was a relatively new concept at that point.
Anyway, this particular location is directly across a major road from a Kroger Marketplace store, and company management apparently determined that they could not adequately compete without adding a grocery department to this store, and that apparently wasn't possible.
They're closing a similar store in Louisville, as well as two of their Neighborhood Markets. Quick aside--I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart, having seen up close how they operate, but I do like the convenience of the Neighborhood Market we have in our area. Smallish, well-stocked and lots of self-scan checkout lanes make it a good place to pick up a couple of items.
Worth remembering that this comes almost directly on the heels of the final closure of Toys R Us.
The news caused me to think about stores that used to exist and now don't. Way back when, we had both Best Buy and Circuit City (incidentally, Best Buy recently announced that they're no longer selling CDs but are selling the trendier and more expensive vinyl records, so everything old is new again). We liked the latter, and they're gone now, at least in the U.S. There also were both Bed Bath and Beyond and Linens and Things, and, again, we liked the latter, now defunct. Think how many large department store chains are gone, too, not to mention those that are now Macy's but used to be independent of the larger corporate parent.
There are actual websites that show photos of old shopping malls, in the "before" and "after" states, which are kind of fun but a little depressing. Think how many mall staples we used to see ONLY in malls, like Thom McAn shoes or Bombay Company or Camelot Music or WaldenBooks and on and on and on.
Yet there are those brave people who are convinced they can enter the retail space and make a go of it. Since I'm a big fan of my Apple Macintosh computers (yes, that's the "correct" name for a Mac), I was pleased to see Lexington be the home of first one then later a different alternative to the Apple Store, just for the sake of variety and access. Both went out of business in less than a year.
There's a store not far from our house called Your Name Here. Their entire business is built around personalized items, which is not a new concept, but certainly a niche. They're on one end of a secondary shopping center that lacks a major anchor store, so it's a little difficult to tell what kind of traffic they get.
And in a larger center also not far away there's an establishment that sells custom-pressed juices. I probably sound like a hick when I say this, but that's the type of business that probably thrives in a far more health-conscious area like southern California, but they're still there after almost a year.
I like the concept of "shopping local" but they have to have what you need, of course.
Retail is not dead, of course, it's simply evolving, as I've written here before. I'm looking for a certain clothing item right now and am a little surprised to find so few places that I can buy what I want, so I may have to take this little wish online to find it.
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