On Glasgow’s Byres Road something surprising has opened. It’s a bookshop. Yes, books! In a shop!
Book lovers are catching up on a chat with friends over cake and coffee, while browsers work their way around the shelves, dipping into volumes before moving on to something else.
Despite looking and feeling like an independent boutique, this is actually part of a very large chain and it’s noteworthy not only because it’s a sign readers are returning to real books instead of downloading electronic versions but it shows Big Retail is beginning to learn a trick or two from small competitors.
Retail may have had a hard time, but if you fancy building a career in shops – and there are plenty of opportunities on s1jobs to do just that – there are positive signs the High Street is reinventing itself.
In towns across Scotland, local authorities are tackling the problem of empty town centres by investing in retail – installing new shop fronts and signage and turning these central spaces from drab to desirable.
Small shops are also helping the turnaround by doing what they do best: providing the sort of customer service that big retailers have increasingly abandoned.
Yes online shopping is convenient, but as a sensual experience it’s a non-starter. There’s nothing to beat feeling the fabric of a dress, smelling a scented candle or weighing a new phone in the palm of your hand before you buy.
While chore shopping has decamped to the internet, the field has been left wide open for those brands and retailers who understand shopping can be pleasurable.
And as more of our lives become automated and run by robots, shops are increasingly becoming places where we can connect with one another on human terms.
So expect to see shops become even more engaging. Instead of just having racks of clothes or shelves or goods, they’ll turn into places to hang out, with coffee machines, fresh flowers in vases, good music on the sound system and perfumed air wafting through the space.
We’ll be free to shop in a really relaxed environment, with well-trained, friendly sales assistants on hand to help when we need it.
Who wouldn’t want to work in a place like this? It’s professional but informal, delivers good products and a wonderful shopping experience and builds a real relationship with its customers.
Welcome to the new world of retail. The doors are already opening somewhere near you – so for all the latest Retail vacancies visit s1jobs.com