Perhaps it is unfair to blend Bergdorf Goodman (what is called a “luxury department store”) with Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s or a shopping mall but they all retain predominantly one thing in common; namely, in-person shopping. It is an element critical to the endorsement of the shopping model to which they are attuned.

Bergdorf Goodman Inc. is a luxury department store based on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York. The company was founded in 1899 by Herman Bergdorf and was later owned and managed by Edwin Goodman, and later his son, Andrew Goodman. Since the early 2010s, Bergdorf Goodman has been a subsidiary of Neiman Marcus, which is owned by the private equity firm Ares Management.

Macy’s has conducted the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924 and has sponsored the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976. Macy’s Herald Square is one of the largest department stores in the world. The flagship store covers almost an entire New York City block, features about 1.1 million square feet of retail space, includes additional space for offices and storage, and serves as the endpoint for the Thanksgiving Day parade. The value of Herald Square alone is estimated at $3 billion.

Listening to the radio stock market pundits talk about the effect of on-line shopping one can easily be left with the impression that people will never again get out of their sweat pants and leave the house. The retail change corresponds with the advent of “working from home” which has precipitated its own alterations not the least of which is in some circumstances a growing vacancy rate of centre town rental buildings.  This depletion of population doesn’t assist the local retailers who may well have depended upon the lunch crowd.  It is not difficult to see that in the central business areas (like financial districts of large cities) the weekend population is insufficient to sustain the neighbouring retailers (some of whom regularly close shop when the business week is concluded).

The on-line shopping allure is for me real and sustainable.  I like that I can specify what I want in precise detail. The battle of having to walk about an entire store in attempt to locate what you already know you want is not endearing. Certainly there have been occasions when I would have preferred to feel the texture of the article or try it on. But the accommodations made by the on-line retailer are significant when it comes to returns or exchanges.

Interestingly the decline of in-person shopping may also have heightened a decline in the very root of retail attraction; that is, as people increasingly isolate themselves from one another, or stay home in their underwear, the attraction of putting on the dog or even buying to make an impression has correspondingly declined. Remove the appetite, you remove the indulgence. It isn’t only shopping that has been affected by the internet. So many of our current devices are devoted solely to functionality.  I formerly wore certain mechanical watches because of their appearance; but now the plain black Apple watch fulfills diverse practical needs which trump gold bracelets and enamel watch faces.  And what if the ‘phone rings?

In an effort to reinvigorate the in-person shopping experience certain of the stores have taken to embellishing the outing by offering in-house coffee shops or small restaurants.  I recall having visited Bergdorf Goodman’s and done exactly that; namely, detoured to their luncheon enclave (which by the way I found most agreeable).  I am however uncertain that the detour did anything to increase my retail shopping experience which may have been little more than a walk in the park.

Much of what I have noticed about current shopping malls and outlet stores is their undisguised appeal to the frugal or thrifty crowd. If it were indeed that category of shopper who is engaging more and more with on-line shopping, then perhaps the amendment of activity is an improvement (by having reduced brick and mortar costs and the related employment expense). As for the luxury shopping market, my expectation would be that those buyers have a more acute interest in what to purchase, entailing with good reason the necessity to get up and close to the product, whether trying on a ring or an evening gown. This similarly means that the British adoration for bespoke everything demands direct personal service.  While there is unquestionably a profit in the so-called “niche market” (one of my favourite innuendo for the rich or profligate), it doesn’t approach the mass market for the rest of us.  Having said that, I distinctly recall having been told by my late friend Moishe Smith that there is just as much money in selling 1 meal for a $100 as a 100 smoked meat for $1. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the metaphor except to observe that the matter is not withoiut question.

It would in my mind be unfortunate if in-person shopping were to disappear not only because of the economic implications but mostly for the social repercussions, involving diminished society generally, putting many people out of work and relegating yet another service to the amazing world of technology (specifically robots to do the handling and packaging). These evolutions force us to question our own aspirations for humanity.  We mustn’t however lapse into the same prejudices which people once promoted to defy the advent of the printing press and written publication (neither of which irrevocably detained the population by the fireside with a cocktail). Nonetheless the object of taking over current malls or department stores is with unquestionable legitimacy possibly related to the value of the real estate only. I doubt the mall or the department store will have the same unqualified history as the spittoon but I believe those with vision are already contemplating change.

Use of spittoons was considered an advance of public manners and health, intended to replace previously common spitting on floors, streets, and sidewalks. Many places passed laws against spitting in public other than into a spittoon.

Boy Scout troops organized campaigns to paint “Do not Spit on the Sidewalk” notices on city sidewalks. In 1909 in Cincinnati, Ohio, scout troops together with members of the Anti-Tuberculosis League painted thousands of such messages in a single night.  A mass-produced sign seen in saloons read: If you expect to rate as a gentleman Do not expectorate on the floor

A common extension of the department store is to become a collection of independent sellers. Then the model transforms from retail to real estate where the building owner develops an environment reminiscent of a streetscape instead of mere corridors of shop windows. And as these same environments become increasingly immune to the perils of weather, it is not unforeseeable that malls will become the new urban landscape surrounded only by roadways and walkways for which the municipality is solely responsible. The legal and insurance manifestations are unimaginable.  Isolated living under domes of various description could in turn prepare us for voyages to the moon.

One thing however is for certain; and that is, without the buyers there will be no sellers. The rudimentary interests of the supplier/retailer and the consumer remain the same; and they depend upon one another for existence.