Paul GrahamVerified account

Love this thread. I also feel like that extra step - asking for permission - forced me to prioritize things even as a kid. If my mom was only going to get me one book from that gift store, it better be the absolute coolest book I can find in there.

I love visiting a small German chain of stores called Manufactum. It’s a joy to wander through looking at the range of artisanal razors, pencils, linens, wooden toys etc etc. Though they have an online store I would bet that a strong majority of sales are still in-store

i remember the excitement of going to large toy shops, and that was only 14 or so years ago(!!)

I think the stores that are doing well today are those that still offer something above the products. For example Hamleys is doing well (toy demonstrations, atmosphere, etc.) vs Toys 'r us (bancrupt: was just a warehouse of toys). Same with Waterstones in the uk (doing well).

This gave me an idea to launch a physical retail store, with no online presence, to bring back the excitement. But then I realized that all the physical retail stores with no online presence are dying.

There’s something about the curation of items that you’d never even thought of purchasing. You just don’t get that from browsing the web.

It was a way to show off that you traveled. Remember Hard Rock shirts?

It's still easier to assess the quality of a physical thing in retail. One of the last barriers to break for online stores.

Too many leaders of retail thought they had to compete with Amazon on cost. Why I don’t go to the store for cost, I go for experience.

There was also an element of ‘unknown’ — we live in an age that every product is marketed & advertised and anything else is just a knock-off. I remember going to these stores and learning of products for the first time.