Where does vintage fit into the future of retail?
Aug 20, 2014 | by Becky Oeltjenbruns
Selfridge’s on Oxford Street
I’m a huge fan of documentaries and PBS has an extraordinary series called Secrets of… that details the historical legacy of key British buildings. It’s a fun series because it provides an answer to that age old mystery: if these walls could talk. The collection is available on Netflix, so I highly recommend you add it to your queue. I recently watched the episode on Selfridge’s and was immediately enthralled.
If you aren’t familiar with Harry Gordon Selfridge, he is truly the inventor of modern retail and shopping as we know it. The ability to browse through the aisles, try things on at your own pace, clearance aisles (one of my favorites), annual sales, window dressings, the idea that the customer is always right, and even having restrooms for women (yes, that was not a consideration prior to Selfridge) were all his creation. His brazen ideas from the early 1900s have become the status quo in today’s, modern retail equation. While this formula hasn’t really been altered in the last one hundred years or so, recently the onset of e-commerce has set the stage for new developments.
Harry Gordon Selfridge, photographed around 1910
When I think about it, online marketplaces like Etsy or Ruby Lane have enhanced the vintage shopping experience. There’s no substitute for going to a beautifully appointed retro shop, but making an online purchase can still be gratifying (as long as you are buying from a trusted vendor, which can be a challenge even for non-antique items). Yet, it seems as if the retail trend is shifting even more significantly if the trendsetters are accurate in their predictions.
This article describes the mall of the future and initially I worried about vintage’s place in this supply chain focused environment. Exactly just where does vintage fit into the future of retail? If it’s all about supplying x, y, or z and making sure everyone can get said things in a set number of days will we all drift into an IKEA-like dystopia? Will shopping morph into a series of button clicks or code scans? Will we ever experience a fitting room again, where we feel the fabric against our skin, enjoy the way a cut drapes our figure? Granted, the fitting room definitely has the ability to be a formidable enemy, but there are times when trying on a ridiculously over-priced frock is the best way to spend a few wayward moments…
Accessories Sale at Selfridge’s, 1940
Will Selfridge’s dream of strolling, happy customers disappear in our streamlined society? All hope is not lost. As the article goes on, a beautiful detail emerges. It seems that one bastion of hope in retail of the future is in offering the unique. That, dear readers, is precisely what vintage is. You cannot simply order it up from a warehouse en masse. It’s a special experience because by its very nature it is special.
So the future is somewhat a divided camp: remarkable items offered in a boutique setting or common objects displayed in an efficient manner. This contrast between unique and ordinary is interesting to think about. It has seemed to me that the vintage enthusiast is a small, but lively group of the population. That, by in large, people like to fit in when it comes to fashion and follow the trend of the moment. But perhaps in this adapting shopping landscape vintage will have more outreach as it will be celebrated in a modern, tech-focused environment. Will more people start to appreciate vintage? Embrace vintage? I’d love to hear your thoughts on my musings in the comments!
What do you think of the “mall of the future?” Would you ever buy vintage online only or will brick & mortar shops always hold a special place for you in your shopping experience?
Great topic! As a history and “back story” lover myself, your comments made me appreciate our modern world [as frustrating as it can be] that much more, no restrooms? How awful!
My own shopping landscape has changed significantly over the past ten years – you posed the question “would you be comfortable buying vintage online only”? Yes! As my career heated up and I had less and less down time, online shopping became my primary mode of making purchases. Plus, I loathe the mall. The crowds, the over-merchandised stores and the cookie cutter feel of what chain retailers offer. This was a difficult transition for a very tactile person – I like to touch things, feel them, before I buy.
I believe Karl Lagerfeld said it best, “Trendy is the last stage before tacky”.
Hence my migration to vintage clothes and the world of online vintage shopping. Every purchase I’ve made over the past three years have been through online merchants. It takes a lot of trust and knowing your measurements intimately. I ask tons of questions before I buy [especially with a new merchant] and to date, I’ve only been “burned” a couple times, luckily not with bigger ticket items. What’s nice, you get to know the shop owner, it’s a much more personal transaction. To me, it’s an old fashioned transaction with 21st century sensibilities and convenience. Plus, you can shop in your pajamas, with wine! It’s a win!
As our world continues to expand and contract. We seem to have less time to spend browsing brick and mortar shops or navigating the crush of humanity at the mall, online will become commonplace, perhaps even for those of us who have a passion for and primarily wear vintage garments and who enjoy having well loved objects around them.
Hi Ellen,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Really appreciate your viewpoint of online vintage shopping as an old fashioned transaction w/21st century sensibilities!
I too love knowing the history behind or story of the items I love, the buildings, the homes. That is one of the reasons I love vintage. I would hate to see retail become completely impersonal, I don’t think vintage would sell well in a setting that didn’t fill the need to know aspect…
I will always continue to support local small shops and I feel that they are here to stay as long as we shop there. Not everyone likes to shop online.While others only shop online, and some do both. I shop online for items that are for lack of a better word, less personal. While remodeling our porch I couldn’t find a ceiling fan locally that met our needs, so searching online was the answer. But that was an item that I didn’t feel that I needed to see in person, to hold it, feel and consider it. That is the type of shopper I am, I have the time to shop and I enjoy it. Thank God there are many other types as well. So I do feel there is still hope, in my opinion retail as we know it is here to stay.
Hi Bridget!
How lovely to hear from you – yes, we agree that the personal connection is one of the most special aspects about shopping vintage. Every piece is unique. Every story is unique. And every adventure that led you to buying something is unique too. Enjoying vintage is one of the most extraordinary ways to reflect just how cool we all are! 🙂