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Lumberton, NC, pop. 20,000, is home to an experiment in converting our old economy into the new one, with profound and far-reaching implications for the future of cities and jobs:
Stores are being converted into e-commerce fulfillment warehouses. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
Stores are being converted into e-commerce fulfillment warehouses. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
Litisha Thomas is a manager in the same Sam's Club where she worked for more than 10 years. She's back, and the building re-opened, but now it fulfills online orders instead of hosting shoppers who used to come in 2-3x a week, and whom she knew by name.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
Ben Jones heads a startup that does a similar thing, but in a very different way: Ohi converts old retail and office space in cities into micro-fulfillment centers. They deliver things like 'prebiotic tonic water' to New Yorkers who order it online.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
In between, you've got grocery stores giving up space, or sometimes renting adjacent defunct retail space, to set up 10,000 square foot automated fulfillment centers from the likes of Takeoff Technologies. It's strip malls -> e-commerce.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
Conversion of our retail and office landscape into fulfillment centers satisfying our shifting-to-ecommerce consumption is nascent, but it's gaining steam. CBRE told me they are tracking more than 90 projects, representing tens of millions of square feet. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
In sum, to the extent that the future is e-commerce, everything is available in an hour because of course, then significant portions of America's workforce are going to shift from jobs in retail and other fields to jobs in e-commerce fulfillment.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-phase-of-the-retail-apocalypse-stores-reborn-as-e-commerce-warehouses-11595044859
