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Comment by planetguy | Hacker News Reader

I rarely buy stuff online, but I do worry about what happens to retail areas as shopping continues to move online. There's nothing more depressing than one of those run-down unrenovated malls that nobody bothers to visit any more, half empty and half filled with shops selling china statues of dogs. Now imagine a world where even the nice malls look like that.

I'm probably over-extrapolating, of course. The reason I hardly ever buy online is that if I've already decided I want something then I'm willing to throw in a few extra dollars to get it now rather than later. I can't be the only one who feels that way. There are some things which will continue to be much easier to buy instore than online.

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Maybe the price of retail property needs to come down a bit. If you look at what shopkeepers have to pay in rent alone, let alone associated taxes, insurance etc., it's so crazily high it's a wonder any of them can afford to stay in business. Landlords could get away with charging that kind of rent when there was no other game in town, which is presumably why they're in the habit of it, but I think at this stage it needs to come down to something the retailer has a better chance of being able to afford to pay.

I think that happens a lot with smaller purchases, like a pair of cheap headphones or something like that. With larger dollar purchases, after you factor in the price difference and taxes (assuming free shipping), the price difference can be significant.

That said, you have some big box stores flourishing, like Costco - why does Costco thrive while Best Buy struggles? I think it's the experience at the store, history with the store, and general approach.

The way I heard it, Costco basically breaks even on the merchandise, and it's the annual membership fee that keeps the lights on. So they're well-situated to be a subscription showroom service for their members, with or without fulfilling many orders on the spot. It probably helps that their staff are treated pretty decently by retailer standards.

Costco sells a lot of heavy stuff that is expensive to ship to your door..?

For me, getting it offline means wasting at least three hours of my weekend. I much rather buy online even if it was more expensive.

As for what will happen to the malls, I couldn't care less. 'though I don't expect those near me to become abandoned any time soon - apparently people enjoy spending their Sundays in a noisy building full of people and eating fast food.

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