, Columnist
U.S. Stores Are Too Big, Boring and Expensive
Large retail chains, the malls they usually find themselves in, and even flagship urban stores have failed to adapt to changing consumer tastes.
No holding back.
Photographer: Ariana Lindquist/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
America is having a “retail moment” -- and it’s not a good one.
It’s easy to blame all of the industry’s woes on Amazon, the online giant. There’s little doubt that the fifth-largest U.S. company by market cap has been disrupting traditional retailers (I promised myself I would not use the dreaded “B&M” cliche). But online is far from the only source of retail’s problems: The large chains, the malls they usually find themselves in, and even flagship urban stores have failed to adapt to rapidly changing consumer tastes. This lag has been readily apparent for more than a decade.