Bald business tycoon and possible alien Jeff Bezos has slayed yet another mom and pop store on his quest for world domination – driving America’s oldest brick & mortar hardware store, Elwood Adams, into the abyss.
Established in 1782, the Worcester, Massachusetts store survived the Great Depression, both world wars, and fierce competition from the likes of Sears, Wal Mart and ACE Hardware – only to be bested by the internet.
“I think Amazon or the larger big-box stores have probably just been too much to compete against,” Worcester city manager Ed Augustus told CBS.
For many brick and mortars suffering similarly, it’s time to adapt or die. Many a horse n’ buggy-supply store undoubtedly met a similar fate when Henry Ford started selling automobiles on every corner. A century later, Kodak refused to go digital while Canon and Nikon and Sony drank their milkshake, and Blockbuster fell to cheaper and more convenient Dropbox and Netflix.
That said, with Amazon’s entry into freight, delivery and manufacturing with their ‘Amazon Basics‘ brand, one has to wonder how mom & pop can compete with a monopoly that controls its entire supply chain.
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on TwitterAmazon is doing great damage to tax paying retailers. Towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt – many jobs being lost!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2017
Darwin: If they can’t evolve they go extinct.
Fuck Darwin. I bet Elwood Adams is not in bed with CIA like Beezoos is. /super extra plus cock licking noise and no-foreskin schmuck smootch/
I don’t “get” this vast overestimation of Amazon. Had to buy a filter the other day: it was $22 on Amazon, $11 at the local brick and mortar store. Furthermore, even a great many online retailers are cheaper than Amazon. Even where Amazon is competitive, their vendors are questionable. Amazon is presumably good for commodity-type items, not so much everything else.
As for this hardware store, I’d say they were more damaged by Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot than Amazon.
Our family’s store was started by my great grandfather in 1920. He delivered groceries to folks out of the back of a horse drawn wagon but soon learned about grocery margins and overhead of horses.
It’s always been a “general” store in a very small town. …More cows than people in it.
Nearest big box competition is 20 miles either side of us but I will say that if we had stuck to simple mainline groceries, hardware and clothing, we’d have been gone 30 years ago.
But we worked at finding niches and specialized product which could not be sold as commodities. We also focused on merchandise and equipment that needed backup, support and service. Stuff that big boxes and Amazon type place can’t provide.
Must be working because we are still here.