Thursday, October 05, 2006

Boxed-In

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For years I marveled at how a store sizes have steadily grown over the years. When I was growing up in the 1960s, “supermarkets” were about the size of a modern Walgreen’s. In fact, the recently torn down (and replaced) Walgreen’s on South MacArthur had been a supermarket back in the day. As a kid they certainly didn’t seem small or inadequate in any way. Yet I can’t imagine a grocery store that size (well maybe an IGA in a small town like, say, Allen’s in Ashland).

With that in mind, I like what Paul Povse has to say today in the SJ-R:
Though business insiders have seen it coming, it's still sad - and a little troubling - to see feisty K's get KO'd by the bullies of retail. Another notch on the big-box belt that is Wal-Mart.

K's Merchandise Mart in Springfield has been a pleasant and manageable store, one where you did not have to wander aimlessly down corridors the width of Veterans Parkway before finding a clerk who actually knows where the double-A batteries are.

And you know, I remember a day when K’s seemed like a “box store”. Retail places have just become so huge that even stores previously perceived at large now seem rather small.

What I wonder is, will this trend continue? Are stores going to get bigger and bigger without end? Or is there a point where people will begin becoming intimidated by the retail vastness of some future mega-ginormous super store? Or will Wal-Mart’s quest for total world domination succeed so that someday when you say you are “going to the store” you really mean THE store?

3 comments:

John said...

Someday Wal-Mart will be the world, and we'll all live inside of it.

BlogFreeSpringfield said...

With all due respect to Mr. Povse, I never found K's to be "pleasant and managable." It was like going down into a 70s era basement when the pack rat owners were organizing everything for a rummage sale that would never happen.

My wife hated going in there and I think that might by typical of many women's reaction to the ambiance. They needed to get with the times more with their retail presentation.

Dan

ThirtyWhat said...

Someday we'll all live IN stores ... like if White Oaks Mall and apartments ... and we'll just walk into the court to go shopping ... and there'll be no snow removal ... or rain coats ... or flat, lifeless hair ... or FREAKIN AUTUMN LEAVES EVERYWHERE. Does anyone have a chainsaw?