The Great Repurposing: How the Decline of Brick and Mortar Could Deliver a Better World

A RECENT CHANGE

During a recent lunch, a long-time friend informed me that he does almost all of his shopping online. He told me he gets virtually everything he needs - including his dog's food - through a major online retailer. He explained, "I simply don't want to carry this huge bag of dog food for even a minute, or even spend the time buying it in a store, and it's less expensive! Why would I ever go to a store for dog food again?"

In the days that followed, I started to ask myself why I wasn't also availing myself of the prime (ahem) relationship that one can easily establish with a specific online retailer. I wrestled with some questions that I answered very quickly and easily:

• Did I like the inconvenience of going to a brick and mortar store? No!
• Was I inherently biased toward burning more fossil fuel while zipping from location to location, buying a couple things at each place I visited? No!
• Was I dedicated to paying more for things? No!
• Was my time worth so little that it made sense for me to spend several hours per week chasing down "stuff"? No!
• Was a major overhaul in order in terms of how I shop? Yes!

After working through these questions, I started to put together online orders a couple of times a week for things that I needed around my apartment. In addition, I started to use the online ordering option for my preferred supermarkets in Charlotte, via their mobile app. They can even deliver my food to me through a well-known online ride-hailing service. Overall, I have reduced my time spent "shopping" by more than 80%.

You may wonder if I will now spend all of my time in my apartment, cut off from humanity due to these new efficiencies that I have embraced? I promise you, the answer is not at all. In actuality, I now have more time to do the things I want to do - a great bonus! Also, I believe this change will amplify my existing tendency to be a socially-conscious consumer.

• I will still visit local vendors to get things that I prefer to acquire through a small business owner who lives in my community
• I will still get my morning chai through some independent coffee shops that provide a hub of activity in my part of town (writing from this place right now!)
• I will enjoy fine restaurants to which I can walk
• I will still drink pints of kombucha at a local, independent brewery
• I will continue to buy a percentage of my food directly from Carolina Piedmont farmers at a local farmer's market
• I will continue as a long-standing customer of a local vegan food delivery service that is also built on an online model

 But, how about the "big box stores"? Well, they will inherently play a reduced role in my life. And I believe I could win back as many as ten to fifteen hours a week for other things. If this trend expands within the larger society, which I anticipate that it will, one big question arises.....

What will we do with all of the land that will be freed up by the decline of brick and mortar businesses?

THREE IDEAS ON REPURPOSING THE COMING RETAIL BONE YARDS

1) Use the freed-up land to help our neighbors - Imagine the space that is currently dedicated to retail being repurposed to help people. The best elder care that society can offer. Addiction treatment centers for those who want to get better. Shelter for the homeless. Job training for those struggling with vocational dislocation due to technology. The amount of space that could be dedicated to helping people could be transformative. It would just take the will to own up to our responsibility to our neighbors and then.... do it. Transformative!

2) Use the freed-up land to get closer to our food - Imagine the space that is currently dedicated to retail being repurposed for food innovation. Tracts of land in the midst of our villages, towns, suburbs and cities given over to growing healthy, organic food that would be readily available, in season and always fresh. We would all have access to food that could be minutes off of the vine or branch. Imagine having restaurants in the midst of these food innovation districts! What an experience it would be to sit on a beautiful deck witnessing your meal being gathered as you enjoy a pre-dinner glass of wine.

3) Leave the freed-up land alone - Tear everything down, leave all of it alone and let Mother Nature reclaim the land. Within a generation, we would see the greatest re-greening in human history, as significant portions of our land would return to a primordial state of ecological balance. And we could all take morning walks near our homes in tracts of nature named things like "South Park Mall Memorial Forest."

IN SUMMARY...

It is not speculation that how goods and services move is undergoing a major change. Nor is it speculation that the brick and mortar business model is starting to undergo a transformation. What is a bit more speculative is the timeline on which our current malls and shopping districts will become mostly empty and available for The Great Repurposing. I believe it will happen over the next two decades.

Whatever the timeline, that day will come!

Based upon the emerging reality that much of the land currently dedicated to retail will become available for other uses in the next couple of decades, may we start the conversation now about how that land could be used. And may we entertain that conversation with great imagination.

The possibilities could be..... simply amazing!

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