The short version

Cory Treffiletti predicted on November 4, 2020: “My prediction for 2021 is that business will continue to go digital and retail stores will continue to change or shutter. I think retail may actually shrink in terms of individual footprint, and stores will become "way stations" for exchanges and appointment shopping. ... malls will have to cut individual stores in half,…

Prediction by

Cory Treffiletti

On November 4, 2020

“My prediction for 2021 is that business will continue to go digital and retail stores will continue to change or shutter. I think retail may actually shrink in terms of individual footprint, and stores will become "way stations" for exchanges and appointment shopping. ... malls will have to cut individual stores in half, increase occupancy and look at more experiential ways to use the space.”

Follow-up

Half right. Business did keep going digital - but the store-as-"way station" future never arrived. Five years on, e-commerce is still only 16.4% of US retail sales (US Census, full-year 2025), appointment shopping stayed a pandemic-era blip, and malls did not halve their stores. The physical store kept its place at the center of retail.

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