The Demise of Big-Box Brick & Mortar

Permit me to rant for a bit - I don't do it very often on my blog.

Big-box brick and mortar is dead. Not for everyone, perhaps, but for me, at least. With soaring gas prices and the convenience, selection, and price available on the Internet, there's no longer any clear mission for big-box brick and mortar. It has failed in the four business areas that previously validated its existence.

First of all, convenience (or the "now" factor). Here's what I mean: why would you buy something in the store, rather than online? Well, perhaps because you need it soon. Like now, for instance. You can't wait to have the thing shipped overnight, or could, but don't want to pay the exorbitant cost of overnight shipping. So you drive to the store to get what you want. It's sensible. Moreover, what you want is a little less common than a box of Kleenex, so you head to a big-box retailer to look for it. The trouble is, of course, that they don't have it either. In fact, none of the big boxes in your town do. So after wasting nearly an hour hitting up several big stores, you end up at home, discouraged, buying the thing off the Internet after all.

This has happened to me numerous times. I wanted, on two separate occasions, a 2.5 inch SATA hard-disk drive enclosure and a 3.5 inch, 250GB hard disk. Best Buy would sell me a PATA enclosure or a 500GB or 750GB hard disk, but not the SATA enclosure or the smaller disk - and I had no reason for another massive disk for my purpose. It would have been a waste of space and money. Circuit City, after declaring when I checked their inventory on the 'Net that they carried the disk, didn't have it after all. WalMart came up short - I didn't even bother with Kmart. All four have permanently lost my business for electronic goods: why bother shopping there, when they don't have the selection that should mark big box retail?

So not only have they failed in convenience, but also in selection (which, along with price, is what typically differentiates big-box retail from smaller outfits). That's two business areas down. How about the other two?

For a while, we've been trying to get our hands on a copy of National Treasure (the first one) to rent and watch (I'll buy the Blu-ray boxed set when Disney completes the series - more cost effective). Blockbuster in town (there are four of them) is worthless. Their selection is so poor, it's effectively limited to games and new releases. They don't even stock up on movies that have a sequel in the theater - which is a pretty obvious thing to do, really. So in desperation, I checked out Hollywood Video. To my surprise, they had it in stock! So I grabbed the movie and got in line to check it out. It was Friday night - there were lots of people in the store.... And only two people working registers.

After standing in line for 15 minutes (no joke) while one of the sales clerks failed to check out a single customer (he called his supervisor - who was on the other register - over for no fewer than three overrides and rebooted his machine once in the middle of the transaction), I gave up and left. I wanted to turn around and shout "Not only did you lose my business tonight, but I will never, ever walk into another Hollywood Video to rent a movie. Ever."

And why should I? After seeing a lack of service like that? And considering their lack of price competitiveness against online services like Netflix? People might complain that on the Internet the service is poor - but it sure beats the lack of service one finds in big-box retail. Rarely have I run into a truly knowledgeable salesperson. Rarely - if ever - have I seen prices that compete with those on the 'Net. It's insanity.

Contrast those experiences with the experience we've had at our local paintball store. It's a small shop. There's not a lot of selection and rarely are there other customers in the store. But the guy behind the counter knows his stuff. He's passionate about the sport. He'll give advice, suggest products, and tell you when you don't need to buy something. He can order whatever you need or want that he doesn't have, and his prices are competitive with those on the 'Net. Perhaps slightly higher, but it's worth it to continue the business relationship with someone who offers free labor fixing damaged equipment.

Big-box brick and mortar may have squeezed out a lot of local, small shops, but the Internet may largely do the same to big-box brick and mortar. And, who knows? When the impersonal shopping experience afforded by the Internet is contrasted against the "good old days" of local stores, we may just see them reemerge. I could handle that.