Brick-and-Mortar supports my family, so I support it. Retail stores are more than just stores to me. For over seventeen years, I have relied on brick-and-mortar stores to earn a living, and I have built a successful career providing product protection solutions for them. While attending shows and meeting with partners, it surprises me how many of us who make a career in the brick-and-mortar space choose to shop wholly at online-only marketplaces. When catastrophes strike, such as fires, hurricanes, and earthquakes, communities rely on brick-and-mortar retailers and their staff to open their stores and provide essential supplies. At high schools, little league fields, and other youth activities, you see local brick-and-mortar businesses supporting their communities with sponsorships.
Let me take you back in time to November 2019: My wife is six and a half months pregnant, and we are going down a list of items we need for our firstborn’s baby shower. My wife shows me the invitation, and there is one problem with it: it lists online-only retailers. My response? “Take those off the list; brick-and-mortar supports us so, we support brick-and-mortar.” After a lengthy discussion, a change was made to the invitation. The usual was on it—date, time, etc.—but the last line read, “Please shop at a brick-and-mortar retailer. If you choose to shop online, please shop at a retailer that has physical stores as well.” Our friends and family were not surprised to read this because they all know what I do, and I have made it clear that I support brick-and-mortar.
Over the past several years, numerous unfortunate events have occurred, including floods, freezes, fires, and hurricanes. When these natural disasters hit, brick-and-mortar is there for our communities. They open stores for shelter, provide goods to start the rebuilding process, and sometimes can even become the headquarters for rescue efforts. In 2017, during Hurricane Harvey, a brick-and-mortar retailer played a pivotal role in providing rescue efforts and supplies to the Houston area. Brick-and-mortar retail stores are part of our communities. When a retail store opens in a community, the first thing mentioned is the economic impact it will have on that community. The team members at the store will likely eat at local restaurants during their lunch breaks, purchase gas within the community, and so on, generating revenue dollars. When I drive by a high school athletic field, I see banners with sponsors’ names. These banners can come from a variety of local small businesses, but many are from brick-and-mortar retailers within the school’s community.
In a society driven by an “I need it now” mentality, there is no better place to satisfy this desire than a brick-and-mortar retail store. Looking back on my daughter’s third birthday party, two of our friends brought a card and said her present did not arrive in time. My response as someone who supports brick-and-mortar was: “Y’all know that there are these amazing places where you walk right in, find what you are looking for, pay for the item, and then you walk right out? It’s called a retail store.” When you want something and you need it right now, and two days just won’t work, brick-and-mortar stores are there for you. There is something unique to brick-and-mortar retailers that online-only marketplaces will never have: they actually have the product in front of you. During many of the RFPs that I have been a part of, samples are always requested. Why? Because our partners want to touch, feel, test, and play with the goods before purchasing them. The same goes for me when I shop.
I love walking into a store and getting what I want when I need it. I love seeing the actual product, touching it, feeling it, speaking to a store team member about the item, and asking them questions about similar items. As a social person, I like seeing other people out and about. As a young family, we are always looking for inexpensive ways to entertain our children, and brick-and-mortar retail allows us to do that. During an afternoon walking around at a mall, our family always makes a few impulse purchases—whether it happens to be stopping at the candy store to grab a caramel-covered apple for the little ones, purchasing more fishing lures for myself, or new footwear for my wife. I also use this ritual to take notes and pictures of product protection to stay ahead of all the trends.
At the end of the day, online-only marketplaces are here to stay, but brick-and-mortar stores support my family, entertain us, and are there for our community when disaster strikes, so we support them. I encourage you to do the same.
Keith King is a seasoned product protection specialist with an impressive seventeen years of experience in the retail industry. His journey began on the ground, selling EAS product protection hardware door-to-door, where he honed his skills in creative problem solving and protection strategies. Over the years, Keith has expanded his expertise and visited over 10,000 retail stores. Today, he collaborates with five of the top ten largest retailers in the country, providing innovative solutions that safeguard products and enhance customer satisfaction. Keith’s deep understanding of the retail landscape, combined with his passion for protecting partner assets, has made him a trusted authority in product protection. His commitment to excellence and customer service continues to drive his success in this dynamic field.