In a news item about pop-up stores featured on CBC's The National last Thursday, Barbara Atkin, Holt Renfrew's vice-president of Fashion Direction, declared that retail has become boring; that's it's all "the same, the same, the same."
I agree with her to some degree: a lot of retail is boring, particularly retail formats like power centers and big box stores. However, independent retailers comprise one retail format that is not boring. Each store is a reflection of its owner's passions, interests and tastes. So, I wondered, given that consumers are allegedly looking for interesting, innovative stores, why aren't more of them shopping at independents?
