Retailers Closing Stores

Best Buy just closed a dozen stores in Canada. All rather sudden it for the staff (even if not for the management team).

Show rooming is also affecting smaller, niche businesses, where not just the browsing happens, but also picking the brains of the store expert. To me it's incredibly rude to take their time, then buy online for a few dollars less.

Quote: TheCesspit

To me it's incredibly rude to take their time, then buy online for a few dollars less.

But that is what people do. It used to be they would shop at an upscale department store but buy at a discounter. Now its shop at whereever but buy at the cheapest online price they can find.

Local bookstores were a great example: they often provided niche services of specialization, displays, lectures, audience follow up, etc. but the customers still did their buying at some online discounter store.

Now customers don't really expect helpful or knowledgeable clerks they just expect low prices. Walmart attitudes prevail, online pricing is everywhere.

Quote: Fleastiff

The escalating problem is the erosion of the tax base ... what is the tax roll value for empty real estate?

Another problem with disappearing tax revenue is sales tax...state sales tax for online purchase is supposed to paid by the purchaser, but it's on the "honor system," aka it never gets paid. Sadly I have to pay sales tax on anything I buy from Amazon, as I reside in one of the states where they have sufficient operations to warrant collecting sales tax on goods shipped to that state.

So for a big box store, sales tax is ALWAYS collecting (excepting states without sales tax such as Oregon). As more and more sales go online, states lose sales tax revenue.