The Slow Death of Sears and Kmart
Businesses come and go like anything else. Like living things, they adapt or die. I wrote about this a couple of years ago when I wondered why Sears wasn’t more like Amazon. Starting in...
Tagged: retail
RedBubble T-Shirts and Merchandise
If you’re a fan of my artwork, now you can buy my designs on a tee-shirt, poster, mug, or dozens of other types of merchandise. Check out my RedBubble store for all kinds of...
Sears vs Amazon
Why isn’t Sears the world’s leading online realtor? A hundred years ago, Sears, Roebuck & Company was Amazon.com of its day. At the turn of the 20th century, Sears’ mail order catalogs were everywhere,...
The Fall of the Mall
Remember when shopping malls were the center of American life? During the 1980s and 1990s, the shopping mall served as the hub of commerce and culture in the United States. Just watch any movie...
Deep in the Pit of the Stockroom
I worked at a home decor store back in college. It wasn’t my dream job, but it paid the bills. It was a small store with a dozen employees, so we did everything from...
The Prepaid Debit Card
A couple of weeks before I moved, I called up AT&T and asked about transferring my DSL service. The guy on the phone told me that they were phasing out my type of DSL....
The Golden Age of Bookstores
Back in the 1990s, a lot of book lovers bemoaned the death of the small, independent bookseller. They thought of the big chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble as the enemy. This was...
The Means of Production in the Information Age
Karl Marx explained that Capitalism is based on a limited ownership of the means of production. It takes a lot of money to build an auto plant, so only the largest joint-stock companies can...
The Flea Market
We worked flea markets for a while. The whole family was involved. My mom made costume jewelry on a workbench in the basement. She took apart old watches and used the clockwork for broaches...
Friday, Black Friday
I can’t believe the news today. Walmart has announced that its Black Friday sales will start at 8pm on Thursday. In other words, on Thanksgiving evening, right after dinner. Holding big Christmas sales on...
