Leo
Well-known member
One thing I was turning over in my mind, as part of the imagine a world post capitalism question, was what would or could towns be without retail? How would we use the space and what would we do with our time?
to a small degree in some parts of the states, that's started to happen. lots of the former retail space (as with abandoned manufacturing/industrial space before it) get repurposed for things that can't be purchased online: services like gyms and yoga studios, hair and nail salons, medical clinics, WeWork-type cooperative work spaces and coffee shops. For a number of years, every empty retail space seemed to turn into a bank branch, but that's slowed down.
in short, people are tending to only leave their house for some sort of personal care, to buy services not products.