Why e-commerce brands are flipping the script and opening brick-and-mortar stores

Walking into Boll & Branch’s new New Jersey-based retail store, you would never guess that the brand’s bedding products were only available online before last week. It looks like a modern store with items on display and friendly customer associates ready to answer questions. And yet you won’t see any customers walking out with packages here. All purchases are mailed directly to the consumer, just like how the store operates online.

Boll & Branch now belongs to a group of e-commerce, direct-t0-consumer brands that have opened their own brick-and-mortar stores in the past year. Allbirds, Away, ModCloth, Glossier and Madison Reed, for instance, have all opened their own physical stores in the past year. And as of last week, Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce player, now controls 460 Whole Foods locations across the U.S...

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RSK: I have said this all along it will morph. This is good news for those of you who lease retail space and may bring back Malls.