Cathy Parker, Manchester Metropolitan University; Simon Quin, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Steve Millington, Manchester Metropolitan University
Weather and online shopping aren’t the main culprits behind the high street’s decline.
Physical stores and online technology can work hand in hand.
In a move that suggests physical retail stores aren’t dead, Amazon has opened three bookstores and over 60 pop-up stores in the US, and has plans for up to 2,000 grocery stores.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Urban retail space is being transformed yet again. Predictions of the demise of physical retailing in the face of online competition overlook its resilience over two centuries of disruptive innovations.
Interim Director, UWA Public Policy Institute; Associate Professor & Programme Co-ordinator (Masters of Public Policy), The University of Western Australia