"Bookstores have been in trouble for a while because of Amazon’s growth, but this pandemic has really accelerated it. Amazon has gotten much more powerful, while there are 100-year-old stores that are hanging on for survival," said Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, to "The Guardian".
So, Bookshop.org was founded to help the small bookstores around the corner – many of which often do not have an online presence of their own. On this platform, local, independent bookstores can create their own virtual storefront to curate books and make recommendations. In doing so, the retailers are receiving 30% of the cover price. It is an effort that has already created a stir in the US and UK.
Andy Hunter sees his project confirmed by the customers: "They care about the world that we emerge from this pandemic into."
Moving Closer: Retail in Vulnerable Times
Hashtag: #iht21
Emmanuelle Hoss: "Retail today is more or less the question of what kind of society we want to live in"
Downtown Paris is being protected with public money. Real estate company Semaest buys up space on behalf of the city of Paris and rents it out at at decent prices to retailers who fit into the neighbourhood. Emmanuelle Hoss presented her project at the GDI Retail Summit.
70th International Retail Summit: The most important take-aways
What does Covid-19 imply for retail? How do you build a successful urban farming company? And how do department stores hold their ground? Answers were provided by innovators and retail giants at the GDI Retail Summit from 10 to 11 September 2020. A summary.
"Covid-19 shows the immense need for public space"
"During lockdown, when people were actually missing public spaces, they still chose not to use the traditional retail spaces. Because they’re not considered to be high quality public spaces anymore," says Kristian Villadsen, partner at urban strategy firm Gehl, in an interview.