The store is experimental, but this feels like a case of surprising with the obvious, possibly the first indicator of a mega-trend in reverse: once the web was an extension of retailers’ physical presence; here the physical presence becomes an extension of the web as the primary “store”.
Is it a sign of things to come? Maybe. But there will always be a place for the full-service shopping trip where grand masters of retail surprise and delight and the shopper is hero. It’s vintage AND AND – it’s more likely that eBay’s sideways shuffle will spark more deeply integrated physical and online offerings, providing richer shopping experiences everywhere. Where you want to shop doesn’t matter – the only thing that matters is that you can, when you want to, how you want to.
