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A plumber will get his supplies from a wholesale shop. The same applies to most trades. Hardware stores will be around. Clothing and the like will have some sort of storefront, for quality control and size and fitment.
Now I see conventional stores and wholesalers getting to the e-biz to speed fulfillment. In that a tradesman can go in on his tablet, smart phone, or computer to order the stuff he needs. Settles up the bill, swings in to pick up the items, or has them delivered. That speeds up his process. In such cases the physical location of the inventory needs to be ready and accessible without having to wait for shipment from out of town.
Along those same lines business owner uses wholesale supplies, scans the items he uses for filling and resupply and expedites the process.
As for retail, these tools can be used in their setting for the same purposes. The trick to make it all happen it to make it affordable for small business’ to use.
NJ Brazen, you have not stated why you asked your original question of what businesses will continue to need brick and mortar locations. If you are considering this information to help you choose a type of business to pursue, that is different than just wanting to know in general.
As for how supermarkets compete with Walmart, it should go back to target marketing and business plans as I mentioned earlier. Walmart seems to have a business strategy of being the low price leader. They also try to put most anything a person would want to buy under one roof. And, they try to be in every market that will support a store of the size they build, which is huge these days.
A supermarket, or any other retail store, can compete by doing things Walmart doesn't or doing them in places they are not. They may not have prices as low as Walmart, but they can offer different products or perhaps higher quality goods. It's not always easy to keep prices the lowest and maintain quality, so a store that caters to quality conscious consumers will probably sell different brands. There are people who will seek out those quality brands.
You can provide a store where not everything is under one roof. I know older people often prefer not to have walk through acres of product to find the few things they are seeking. Others also prefer to avoid long lines and a long hike just to buy a loaf of bread.
Supermarkets can specialize in products that Walmart doesn't carry much of. The supermarket where I shop has a huge produce department with every kind of produce I can imagine. They also have a lot of international products from lots of different countries. Walmart doesn't do much of that. They also offer lower prices on some of their products than Walmart does, so they probably sell more volume than Walmart in those categories... deli meats and cheeses for example. There is often a line at the deli counter where I shop, but never at Walmart.
Supermarkets can be located in places far from Walmart. This may mean serving a small town, being in the rough part of town, being in the inner city, or just being physically far from wherever they are. Of course, there have to be customers there to serve, but those customers will often find the nearby supermarket more convenient. Some locations can focus on foot traffic while Walmart needs good road access. This is true in heavily populated urban areas, tourist areas, airports, etc.
Finally, some people I know say they prefer to shop anywhere but Walmart. So, just being somebody else is helpful. Some customers will only shop where they find the lowest prices, but others will seek out alternatives. Build a business around being what they are not, and you might have something.
The comments about movie theaters not providing a good experience for you may be valid, but just being able to see a movie on a bigger screen in a communal experience with a crowd of people is an experience you can't get at home. Some people will value that, but others will not. The theater is still selling an experience nonetheless.
Perhaps when I say experience, you only think of a grand experience. I just mean it is something a person doesn't get by sitting at home, or it is a different experience than they get someplace else. Even a supermarket will focus on the experience their customers have. Why else do they carefully choose paint colors, strive to keep the floors clean, paint murals on the wall, stack products in interesting ways, etc.? They want the experience their customers have to be better than the experience they get elsewhere.
I ask because my company is contemplating buying a little corner strip mall in the NYC suburbs, but very close. I am wondering if is a good idea. I keep hearing how retail storefronts are the way of the dinosaur, and my company does have some one commercial space they cannot seem to fill also out in the burbs.
A mobile barber, maybe, but women's hair can get complicated.
Say you're getting a perm. The stylist washes your hair (in your kitchen sink?), rolls your hair, and applies the perm solution. Then you sit under a dryer (where does that come from?) for at least a half hour while the perm solution penetrates your hair. What does the stylist do in the meantime? Does s/he go off to another customer and come back to take out the rods? Does she sit around and do her nails or read a magazine? Who pays for that?
Hair coloring presents the same challenge. There's a time lag while the chemicals are processing; the stylist normally would schedule another customer for a simple cut during this time.
Who wants to have snips of hair all over their kitchen floor? Who cleans it up? What if there's not enough room in the kitchen -- or any other room -- for the stylist to maneuver?
I don't think the OP has thought this through thoroughly ...
Not that I have experience in stripmalls or in the NYC suburbs, but it seems to me that trying to decide if something will be a good investment property is based on CAP rates, vacancy or occupancy rates, crime rates, etc. Is the place full now? Is it in good condition? When was the last time it had a new roof covering? How old is it? How old are the fixtures, such as air conditioners, heaters, hot water heaters, etc? How is street access? Is the parking good? What is the traffic count? Is it in a more residential part of town, more business, or more industrial? And, so on.
Not that it doesn't matter what kind of busineses might be located there, but once you've answered all these other questions, it seems less important unless you actually have to go out and recruit businesses to fill your stripmall. Wouldn't they come to you? Of course you have to advertise, but I wouldn't be as concerned about who wanted to rent the spaces as if they will be rented. Look around at other commercial spaces in the area. If they have a lot of vacancies, or if this is an existing mall and it is not pretty full, I would pass. If the opposite is true, I would start looking at all the kinds of numbers I mentioned. Just my humble opinion.
But these appliances all come with fixed standard sizes. LOLZ I laugh just imagining about women pandering over the "ergonomics" of a household appliance. Sounds like a network sitcom.
Ummmmm no. Take out your 15 year old Fridgeaire and try to get a Sub Zero wedged in there!
Many appliances are becoming super sized, more features means bigger cases.
A mobile barber, maybe, but women's hair can get complicated.
Say you're getting a perm. The stylist washes your hair (in your kitchen sink?), rolls your hair, and applies the perm solution. Then you sit under a dryer (where does that come from?) for at least a half hour while the perm solution penetrates your hair. What does the stylist do in the meantime? Does s/he go off to another customer and come back to take out the rods? Does she sit around and do her nails or read a magazine? Who pays for that?
Hair coloring presents the same challenge. There's a time lag while the chemicals are processing; the stylist normally would schedule another customer for a simple cut during this time.
Who wants to have snips of hair all over their kitchen floor? Who cleans it up? What if there's not enough room in the kitchen -- or any other room -- for the stylist to maneuver?
I don't think the OP has thought this through thoroughly ...
Mobile businesses usually fail because of the travel time, missed appointments and lack of walk in business. The rent savings just get spent elsewhere (mobile expenses) without any extra income.
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