Retail shopping has been on its deathbed for a while now. It's been on life support. The public is like the retail's family knowing that it is going to die, but nobody wants to actually pull the plug. Sure, there are cute-sy slogans like "shop local" and other efforts to keep customers coming in through retail's doors. However, such efforts are like shoveling against the tide.
Well, the virus and ensuing economic collapse has pulled the plug for us. We are watching retail gasp for its final breaths. Does retail have a trust or will to decide what happens next? The implications will be far and wide. Cities will become ghost towns. Think of this. What are the major reasons anybody goes into the city for anything? People go into the city for shopping, work, restaurants, cultural events., etc. All of these reasons as of now are forbidden. Will they ever come back? If yes, when, and even more importantly, how?
San Francisco has been dealt a blow. Anything that was paying into the tax base and employing people has been annihilated. There's no incentive anymore for anybody to put up with the trash, needles, homelessness, panhandling, crime, traffic, etc. The blight of the inner city has come back. It will become a prison of sorts for those who remain. God forbid should we allow the inner city cesspool come into our own neighborhoods. That's why we don't live where we (used to) work. SF is surrounded by water except for the border with San Mateo County so the moat keeping the undesirables in is already intact. It's kind of like Alcatraz.
We are living in the transition of ages. Nothing will ever be the same ever again. It's foolish to think that things will go back to 'normal.' There is no more normal. However, denial is part of the grieving process when something dies (retail).
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