Inasmuch as I’ve talked about relocating to home offices and the decisions and the desire or real economic need to do so, the same is true for retailers. There are several retail companies across the country who have decided that to hold onto the real estate, whether leased or owned, is NOT the best idea in these times and have chosen to abandon their storefronts and focus on web sales.
Sad to say because the mantra forever has been “to own the land…to own a piece of the rock…” now, due to a matrix of bad decisions on the part of government intervention and the home lending business creating a glut of foreclosures because the government maintained that everyone should own a home, developers and lenders bought into this false market which quickly morphed into a housing bubble profoundly affecting the commercial real estate market due to the resulting high unemployment rate. People lost their jobs in the broad-reach of the housing industry and the drop in purchasing hit many retailers in their guts.
Survivors were either well positioned in the remaining marketplace—insulated economic circles—or they reduced their overhead, many actually left their storefronts for the new frontier of cyberspace through which to market their goods, or they failed. When the storefronts shut, more people were left unemployed.
Ok –enough of this doom and gloom—we wish those well who have ventured into the outer limits “where no man has gone before”…oops, double reference—too retro—yet the serious nature of these challenging times makes all of us still maintaining a storefront and contributing to the fiber of the pedestrian experience—the window shoppers— the livelihood of the urban and suburban centers—thank YOU the shoppers who are fortunate to be surviving the cut-backs, turn-downs, closures….
Time to pour a cocktail, sit back and evaluate your surroundings and appreciate what you have…then move the furniture, check your colors and fabrics, your quality of light, comfort of your furniture and maximize it all! Rough-house with the dog, pet the cat…converse with your kids, family, friends…What would it take to make YOU happier and more productive?
