Dec. 29—ALEXANDRIA — Inflation and increased tax burdens on residents have had an undeniable effect on the city’s downtown, but Amy McCurry still believes that her hometown is an ideal place to do business.
In fact, she’s recently doubled down on her commitment to brick-and-mortar shopping experiences by purchasing, along with her business partners, two additional buildings to supplement the presence of her apparel store, the McCurry’Osity Shop.
“The convenience (of online shopping) is crazy,” she said. “We all know how convenient it is. But I think people still like to come in and try it on or see it or feel it.”
McCurry and other store owners are swimming against a rising tide of sentiment that has consumers turning, more than ever, to online sources for checking off their Christmas gift lists — and throughout the rest of the year as well.
A recent report from Upgraded Points, an online travel research provider, notes that despite consumer holiday spending estimated at nearly $1 trillion nationwide this year, the decline of brick-and-mortar retail locations is accelerating.
Over the last decade, the report states, Indiana has experienced an 11.3% decline in the number of brick-and-mortar stores per capita. That number currently stands at 2.9 retail stores for every 1,000 residents.
“I think we’re at a transitional point (in shopping habits),” said Rob Sparks, executive director of the Corporation for Economic Development in Madison County. “Think about the car replacing the horse-drawn carriage. The guy that was working on the horseshoes was thinking, I don’t understand this car business, nobody’s going to do it.
“Eventually there is nobody doing horseshoes anymore — everybody’s driving cars and repairing tires.”
As the typical shopping experience is being reinvented, local experts point to a related trend: entrepreneurs reimagining traditional storefront spaces to focus on experiences, rather than merchandise.
“Brick-and-mortar is certainly changing,” said Lonnie Leeper, dean of the Falls School of Business at Anderson University. “I think what I see Madison County and Anderson specifically are doing is with their economic development work, they are actively building and encouraging small business entrepreneurship…to see some of those brick-and-mortar spaces being utilized in ways we wouldn’t have thought about 10 years ago.”
Sparks said the trend toward experience-based shopping — providing consumers with a variety of entertainment options in an effort to lure them to a central location for an extended period of time — is noticeable among several malls and other former retail centers around the state.
“People are thinking about movie theaters, thinking about restaurants and a variety of food products that bring people in — even grocery stores that are centering in some of those malls or strip areas where people are driven to that on a regular basis,” he said. “Then it feeds some of the other stores that are supporting that area.”
McCurry believes that, with the right choices in products, savvy marketing and strong relationships in the community, brick-and-mortar businesses like hers can continue to thrive, especially in smaller communities like Alexandria.
“A lot of people still like that experience — to be able to go out and spend a day with your friends, go out to lunch, shop — that’s what I grew up doing,” she said. “I think the experience still is what a lot of people want.”
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