Sir, - Nuala O'Faolain's article of December 2nd wonderfully illuminates the profound change that is taking place in Dublin's retail scene. As a Dubliner currently living in the United States, I see the future and it's not a pretty sight.
The evolution of the Dublin shopping experience to the model to be found in the US is profoundly depressing. To see where Dublin will be in five years, look at Birmingham or Manchester. To see where it will be in ten years, look at any medium sized city in the US.
In the US, there are only two reasons to shop: the first is for price, and the second is for therapy. In the first case, the consumer becomes addicted to coupons and goes to massive out of town, L shaped terraces of warehouses. The first warehouse might sell DIY items, the next one electrical items, the next one household goods and so on.
These warehouses parade as stores, but they are truly nothing more than warehouses with cash registers at the front. Retail business certainly treats them as such, and these chains have no cost in managing inventory in two locations. Therefore, prices are at the (theoretical) lowest value and the consumer gets a bargain. And a sterile space where there is no one to give assistance, and you need significant mobility just to get to the end of a single aisle. Pity the poor old man depicted in Nuala's article.
For the second, "therapy" experience the consumer goes to an upmarket mall, completely sealed from the elements (both climactic and human) and marvels at how each department store there can be made to look 50 different and nice . . . choosing to overlook the fact that each one is laid out and stocked exactly the same way as in, the mall five miles away. Mall to mall, the same retail names appear with numbing regularity. The only difference is the price - the better the neighbourhood, the more you pay.
The acrid smell of synthetic cinnamon pervades these retail spaces, and Musak abounds. The therapy is very short lived, and occurs in the adrenalin rush between the time that an item is chosen and payment has been made. Once bought, the kick is well and truly gone. The only hope for the next hit is . . . the next purchase.
This nightmare scenario is the reality in the United States. There is no social strand to the overall shopping experience - the "experience" is nothing more than a cold commercial transaction. Trying to engage a check out person in conversation may even be perceived as harassment. Dublin is a wonderfully human place to shop, where the commercial transaction is only one element of the overall experience. Let's enjoy it, because it will struggle to survive. - Yours, etc,
Long Meadow Lane,
Yardley, PA 19067, US.