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The death of the brick and mortar toy store

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Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#151

Post by diogenescynic »

JuniperMesos wrote: post #100
diogenescynic wrote: post #52

I miss toy stores, butcher shops, record stores, movie renal stores... everything moving online has really made culture so isolating and a lot harder to meet people. I remember when I was younger I could just go to a retail area and get some coffee, look at magazines/books, then go to a record store, then a video game store, a pet store, etc. Now everything is either a big box store in a giant parking lot or online.…

> Capitalism is strangling culture and making people more lonely and anti-social. They want us at home, buying subscription services, and getting taxis for our burritos so we don't have to actually go out and do anything or see anyone... People are choosing in large numbers to buy subscription services, order food online, stay at home, and avoid socializing with other people; and the market is supplying demand. This…

Agree, it's almost entirely about profit and convenience but I just think there's something false about modern 'convenience' in that it actually isn't 'convenient' when you think about all the other things you lost. The tiny bit of friction exerted to actually go into a store is now gone, but now you lose the opportunities to meet other people into the same things as you... get tips from retail workers on interesting movies/music/video games. It's convenient in that one singular moment, but now you're lonely and have no friends or connections... I think that's why people are more depressed and on more depression medicine. There's a lack of just casual interaction and socialization now that we're replacing with 'social media' doom scrolling and it's clearly not making people more fulfilled--just more convenient.

I would argue a lot of this could be changed by better zoning laws and better city planning. Big box stores should be relegated to the outskirts of city limits... let local and small businesses have downtown areas. Otherwise, everything is becoming one homogenous experience across the entire country.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#152

Post by diogenescynic »

ofrzeta wrote: post #46
bombcar wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing I've noticed is that even dying downtowns want insane amounts of rent; I think you have to be able to buy the building to make it work. However, that's not as unrealistic as it may seem, because the city itself often owns a decent amount of downtown, and can make a deal.

It's really baffling that even in the shittiest areas rents or property prices are insane. It seems the capital owners just don't care or don't lose enough money to care. They should be expropriated. Of course that won't happen.

It's because commercial property is bought and bundled up into REITs and they would rather have a property go unleaded than to lower rates.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#153

Post by zabzonk »

zabzonk wrote: post #21

Back when I was a kid in the smallish UK city of Lincoln, we had two big model shops (tools, balsa kits, aero engines, Airfix, etc.), one big toyshop (Scalextric, and toys for young kids) and one rather weird place that specialised in fishing gear, Meccano and 00-guage railway stuff. Now all are gone, and I do wonder how kids of today will be able (for e.g.) to experience building a glider (balsa, cutting out with a…

Sorry, bad link to book. Use https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Book-Kites-Original/dp/0140...

It really is a great book if you have any interest in flying things.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#154

Post by NickC25 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #76
salynchnew wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a rather inefficient use of resources. How long will a fund typically keep that on the books before they have to offload the asset or declare bankruptcy? At a certain point, that smells like a scam with a real estate business attached to it.

> That seems like a rather inefficient use of resources. Inefficient for society? Yes. But for the capital providers aka investment (and let's be clear: retirement ) funds and banks? Definitely not. The fundamental problem at the root of all of it is how the US does pensions. In contrast to most European countries that operate in a redistribution system, aka the current workers pay the pensions of the current pension…

> and I'm sick and tired of American vultures buying up everything in Europe Just Because They Can.

Here in America, we're also sick and tired of vultures buying up everything just because they can.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#155

Post by retardkiller »

NickC25 wrote: post #154
mschuster91 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That seems like a rather inefficient use of resources. Inefficient for society? Yes. But for the capital providers aka investment (and let's be clear: retirement ) funds and banks? Definitely not. The fundamental problem at the root of all of it is how the US does pensions. In contrast to most European countries that operate in a redistribution system, aka the current workers pay the pensions of the current pension…

> and I'm sick and tired of American vultures buying up everything in Europe Just Because They Can. Here in America, we're also sick and tired of vultures buying up everything just because they can.

[dead]

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#156

Post by voncheese »

alex_young wrote: post #12

I live in a town of fewer than 8k people. Our local toy store is not only thriving, it’s central to the community. People would rather shop there than go online. Why? Because they are a part of the community. At every farmer’s market or community event they have a booth giving out free glitter tattoos to children, and they employ several teenagers part time to wrap gifts (of course this is free too), apply tattoos, a…

This is awesome to hear about. The community aspects (both being part of the community and building community) can't be understated.

Thanks for sharing!

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#158

Post by gwbas1c »

strict9 wrote: post #4

My experience in a large US city is surprisingly the opposite. The toy stores I visit are doing great. I suspect this is is because a large portion of their business is for birthday parties. I assumed many or most were gone because of Amazon. But after having kids and getting gifts for birthday parties, I've learned there are a lot of them and they are doing healthy business. Almost always a line on weekends. Many or…

I think it's hard to see the change in US toy stories looking at articles (and discussions) like this. There's always been turnover in retail; very few stores and chains last a lifetime. (I've always suspected it has to do with when key people retire or otherwise leave the business.)

Compared to when I was a kid, there's no shortage of toy stores: There's always something at the mall, Target has toys, bookstores have toys that didn't have toys when I was a kid. (My daughter asked me to take her to a bookstore in town last weekend that was about 1/3rd toystore.)

So, it's really hard to "blame" someone for a "demise" that, to me, looks like traditional retail turnover. Even if we didn't have Amazon, I'm sure older retail stores would turn over, and newer retail stores would eat them.

Re: The death of the brick and mortar toy store

#160

Post by kazinator »

warumdarum wrote: post #159

I found it especially disheartening that the brick and mortar stores had to subsidize their own demise by paying taxes for roads that carry their competition who dont pay taxes.

Roads carry customers to the brick-and-mortar location, as well as goods that they stck.
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