'Amazon Effect' Hits Retailers Around the Globe (axios.com)

From a report: U.S. stores have been closing at a faster rate in 2017 than at any time since the recession, an American phenomenon being dubbed "retail apocalypse." Though this has so-far been largely a worry for U.S. retailers, the Wall Street Journal reports that investors in Europe are worried that it is now spreading abroad.

Comments

Re:Amazon: ready to sell you down the river

[ShanghaiBill]

Ionly make their own local economies wither

Nonsense. Retail jobs are unproductive and create no additional goods or services. The elimination of these jobs is good for the economy, since it frees up labor for productive work. Rising productivity not only raises living standards, it is the only thing that raises living standards. The common belief that it is a "bad thing" is ridiculous.

Go visit a 3rd world country. You will see thousands of people sitting behind tables, or with some goods laid out on a blanket by the side of the road. In poor countries, far more people work in dead end retail jobs. So why aren't they rich if they are working so many hours?

Waiting for Amazon used.

[WolfgangVL]

Once Amazon second-hand, or Amazon-thrift, or whatever they eventually choose to call it hit the net, it's over for retail.

I shop in pawn-shops, thrift-stores and craigslist more than ANYTHING else. It's not that I'm broke, I'm just not paying 3x prices for the new plastic smell.

Pawn-shop guys are friendly in a no-bullshit kind of way. No fake smiles, you can actually talk down the prices, most of the time they own the joint, and they don't work on commission. Craigslist usually means a 5 dollar cup of coffee but is worth it most f the time, I've yet to get burned, and you can't beat the price of cloths at a thrift store. I'm wearing a $250.00 leather jacket I picked up for 20 bucks.. I don't care if somebody died in it.

My prime membership pays for itself every Christmas though. Usually with a single gift+free gift wrapping for the girls... they love that shit. Prime has products with free shipping for cheaper than the manufacturer charges +shipping. We actually use the prime video with the firestick too, so that's a plus.

Retail is doomed.

Last time I was at wal-mart was to buy my son a prepaid game card. The cops wrestled a spun out junkie to the ground right in front of the entryway on our way in, and some asshole rear ended my pickup while parked in the parking lot.