Lessons learned from a failing local mall
The author is characterizing the economic trend as if it were a deliberate choice, and ignoring the specific reasons for that trend. Back when <i>stuff</i> used to be scarce, hard to find information about, and the supply chain needed to push a mass quantity of stuff onto the shelves to induce demand, it made sense to spend hours grazing over the collection in person in stores. Likewise, the margins were high enough to support the overhead of this.<p>Then, the downtown&#x27;s vibrant selection disappeared for the same reason the malls are now closing up - we no longer need or want to do that. In concert, margins have been getting ever lower while competition has become even more cut throat - eg the modern ability to go into a store to physically browse, and then purchase from somewhere else online before having even left that (money losing) store! So even those who want to browse in person are paying progressively more and more to do so.<p>And keep in mind, all of this local retail wasn&#x27;t&#x2F;isn&#x27;t actually bringing money <i>in</i> to the area! (unless it&#x27;s the biggest town around, in which case draw your boundary conditions larger)<p>I do personally respect the need for a local economy, and recognize that the dream of efficiency hasn&#x27;t delivered on its promise [0]. But reminiscing about the time when the consumer-stuff-delivery industry was effectively in its startup phase isn&#x27;t going to help.<p>[0] I argue it&#x27;s due to monetary policy that has an explicit goal of nullifying any savings by consumers, but I digress.