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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I have been pondering the end game if retail stores in general give way to online stores. Some areas of retail are better suited for online sales than others. Plenty of us here have long-since moved to buying electronic equipment online: there is not much point in going to a bricks and mortar store for that, ja?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK so if electronics stuff is perhaps the best-suited for online sales, what is the worst suited? It is tempting to answer clothing, because that generally needs to be tried on, but that is a mixed bag: plenty of clothing can be bought without trying on. We have had catalog sales for clothing since back in the days when the catalogs had a useful alternative application. High-end clothing and tailored clothing needs a shop generally, but plenty of us don’t wear that kind of stuff.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What else? Cars? I have bought three cars online sight unseen (all three new (the first one in 1998.))<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Alternative? Who gets hit the hardest if bricks and mortar shuts down? <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Perhaps a good answer is jewelry stores. I claim no expertise on this, for I have never bought jewelry of any kind (my bride doesn’t wear it (any of it (her parents oppose it (on religious grounds)))) but that is an industry perhaps most dependent on bricks and mortar retail outlets.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Yesterday we saw an antifa guy threatening to torch the diamond district in New York. If a bunch of them coordinate an attack, they could show up at midnight with a battering ram, smash through, toss in a few cans of fuel, torch enormous quantities of wealth. That would be some of the most productive wealth-destruction they could do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>This morning I see this:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/great-diamond-glut-miners-stuck-040022775.html">https://finance.yahoo.com/news/great-diamond-glut-miners-stuck-040022775.html</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike</p></div></body></html>