, Columnist
How Low Will Retail Go? Look at the Railroad
Brick-and-mortar stores are disappearing. But they won't completely vanish.
Spacing out.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesIt’s hard to find anyone optimistic about the future of conventional retail as internet giants like Amazon continue to accumulate customers. But where’s the bottom? There is a helpful parallel -- just not an obvious one -- that might shed some light on the question.
The best way to measure retail’s role in the economy while simultaneously accounting for population change is retail space per capita. It may be a blunt instrument, but it’s one that’s been consistently documented back into the 1800s.