Whatever Became of the Brick and Mortar Store? A walk down memory lane

Whatever Became of the Brick and Mortar Store

? A walk down memory lane

The location where a business sells and services its customers and goods continues to undergo radical change. Like most every thing else in this second decade of the 21st century the speed of this change continues to increase as never before. You could point to several causes for this change, but one reason is the internet. With its easy availably and the recent introduction of live chat business can now go to the customer as never before.

Just over five decades ago, people began to see the decline of the bread and butter type of business for more than a half a century: mom and pop run neighborhood stores. These stores depended on a strong neighborhood identity. Neither competition nor growth was a major concern. The dream of most of these entrepreneurs from an earlier time was to be able to live comfortably and have something for their sons to inherit.

What completion there was consisted of department store chains. First, there were those "big boys" the large department stores usually found downtown and owned by invisible boards of directors in some faraway large city. Stores like Neiman-Marcus, Saks, and Gambles could now be found in many midsized cities. Most of their patrons were people with money. Other national companies stores like J. C. Penny or Sears and Roebuck focusing on offering less sophisticated and lower priced items soon arrived.

As downtown areas, thrived neighborhoods began to change. Residents were increasingly mobile. What once was, was changing. The mom and pop store that were at the center of a neighborhood began to give way to multiple stores grouped and surrounded by several neighborhoods. This shift, known as shopping centers, marked another major shift in the demise of brick and mortar store.

It was not long after this change that another transition occurred. This was the introduction of the big box stores. The Wal-Mart's, House of Fraser, Best Buy, K-marts, Targets and other large companies moved in and took over the territory of the shopping centers.

Then, an upstart showed up. This new business model was about to dramatically change how business was conducted. At first, it was seen as nothing more than a passing fad competing for a slice of the business pie. This new kid on the block was the Internet.

Personal, convenient, and putting the customer back in control of their shopping experience the web had much to offer. If there was a shortcoming to doing business on the web, it was in how online businesses communicated with customers: customer service. Again, human ingenuity responded with live chat.

live chat provided a way for the customer to connect with a business as never before. With live chat customer questions are answered immediately, solutions replace problems, and sales increase. With live chat, a major obstacle to the customer doing business online has been removed.

Live chat has given rise to the return of the mom and pop way of doing business. While the traditional brick and mortar store may be gone forever live chat has allowed the personal touch of the mom and pop store to live.

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