I am writing with a call for Mainebiz and our business community to really start thinking about retail. Everything from Wal-Mart to Main Street mom-and-pop is under the gun like never before. Macy’s and K-Mart, Sears, etc. are just the beginning of this massive shift away from bricks-and-mortar stores and it is affecting every retail store […]
I am writing with a call for Mainebiz and our business community to really start thinking about retail. Everything from Wal-Mart to Main Street mom-and-pop is under the gun like never before. Macy's and K-Mart, Sears, etc. are just the beginning of this massive shift away from bricks-and-mortar stores and it is affecting every retail store in Maine right now. Some people think, “Well, the big guys like Wal-Mart are finally getting their due.” There is some ironic truth in this statement except it is akin to cheering while a forest fire burns down your hated next-door neighbor. You are next.
The cool little boutique, the hip bookstore that survived everything, all of our wonderful born-again downtowns are nearly as vulnerable as the largest big boxes. The growth of online retail is shaking every store in Maine. Business leaders and owners need to get to work NOW to avoid the wholesale failure of stores from one end of Maine to the other.
I urge Mainebiz, business organizations, economic development professionals and retailers to squarely face this growing problem.
Over the years we've made great strides in Maine with bringing back our downtowns. I fear we could be seeing the beginning of a wave such as the one that consumed downtowns as malls came into their own in the 1970s and 1980s. We can try and get ahead of the wave before it crashes on us.
Michael D. Hurley, Coastal Distributors Inc., Belfast
