The Next To Be Left Behind

WengerIn

commentarymagazine.com/american-society/retail-next-to-be-left-behind

These days, somewhat paradoxically, Forgotten America is on everyone’s mind. Even before Donald Trump won the presidency by appealing to demographics and themes that effete, urban Americans found gauche, books like J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy and John Judis’s The Populist Explosion focused elite minds on those left behind in the Great Recession’s “recovery.” Trump’s “Forgotten Man” was, however, forgotten long before 2008. By casting himself as a defender of the status quo ante—leaving it up to voters to determine for themselves precisely when their preferred “ante” was—Trump tapped into the political potency of nostalgia. The globalized information age is not done transforming the American economic landscape. Others will soon join the ranks of those left behind.......

.......Brick-and-mortar retail may soon become an endangered species. Last August, Macy’s announced the closure of 100 stores in America, including a flagship presence in San Francisco. J.C. Penney followed suit. Between 130 and 140 of its stores will close this year. The thousands of employees who work at one of the 154 Wal-Marts closing this year will soon have to find new work. Over 500 Radio Shack locations will soon liquidate their holdings. American Apparel, Wet Seal, Bebe, Office Depot, Aeropostale, American Eagle, Game Stop, Men’s Wearhouse, Payless, The Limited, Abercrombie & Fitch, and many more–all are either going out of business permanently or substantially reducing their physical footprints.

Apparently there is a tipping point in a retail sector when 20-25% of sales move online.

Presumably in a few years Bruce Springsteen will be singing about packing bags and trolleys that won't steer well.