Retail has changed over the years

I'm old enough to remember when you put on your best clothes to go downtown shopping.  You could even find street parking close to the stores you wanted to go to.  Stores had high quality merchandise and knowledgeable sales people.   For children, like me, there were street vendors selling all sorts of wind up toys that I still remember playing with hours on end.

Then downtown entered a decline and the malls, out in the suburbs, became the go to place to shop.  From one parking lot, you could shop a multitude of shops.  One such mall opened in my hometown of Pensacola, Florida.  As part of the grand opening, three Shetland ponies were given away in a drawing.  I was 10 years old and dreamed of owning my very own horse!  Every time we went to the mall for weeks, I would fill out a card with my name and address and drop it in the large wire basket in each of the stores. The day of the first drawing, I had a strong feeling, that to this day, I cannot explain.  I just KNEW my name was going to be drawn.  It was!!!

For decades, the malls became bigger, more glitzy, and THE place to shop.  Why would we ever want another alternative?

Enter the internet.  I remember struggling to learn to use it, wondering what is the big deal?  How is this going to make my life better???  What does online shopping mean?  What are blogs?  What does facebook mean?  What is an e-mail?  What does "point and click" mean?  Pay bills online?  How do you do that???

Today we find many vacant malls, totally abandoned, or headed in that direction.  They are being repurposed.  In my city, Marketplace Mall, once a thriving, bustling place, has many empty store fronts.  What used to be Sears, is now the Orthopedic Center for the University of Rochester Medical Center.  At the other end of the mall, once stood Sibley's, then it was Kaufmann's and then Macy's.  All of those are history.

Like many of us, I prefer online shopping.  I can sit in the comfort and privacy of my home and browse dozens of sites, any time of the day or night.  Online retail has become very convenient.  Quick delivery times and easy returns if need be.  Who among us has never shopped dozens of times from Amazon, L. L. Bean, and all the small businesses that have popped up?  

Kind of makes you wonder what is next on the horizon!