http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/02/tomorrows-store-today/ Yesterday's tomorrow, today. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:15:36 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/02/tomorrows-store-today/comment-page-1/#comment-1017426 NikFromNYC Sun, 13 Jan 2008 02:14:44 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/02/tomorrows-store-today/#comment-1017426 BHPhoto.com's physical store is now two full stories about the size of a a department store floor, each. They sell cameras, computer imaging stuff and movie production equipment (and even roll film). It's run mostly by patient and kind of funny hasidic jewish guys, as in no "hard sell" Time Square junkstore vibe there. But they have a basement or two as well, where all the actual products are, and this overhead conveyer chain system that once you look at their behind-the-counter floor samples, the actual products you select arrive at the checkout counter in numbered bags before you do! It uses standard plastic shopping baskets, and a big plexiglass walled off hole in the floor lifts them skyward from several points in the store, where they all converge to the ONE person operated handler. You pay at the counter with a credit card right where you handle the display models. They've been using such systems in catalog supply houses for decades, but I've never seen it in a consumer walk-in store. BHPhoto.com’s physical store is now two full stories about the size of a a department store floor, each. They sell cameras, computer imaging stuff and movie production equipment (and even roll film). It’s run mostly by patient and kind of funny hasidic jewish guys, as in no “hard sell” Time Square junkstore vibe there. But they have a basement or two as well, where all the actual products are, and this overhead conveyer chain system that once you look at their behind-the-counter floor samples, the actual products you select arrive at the checkout counter in numbered bags before you do! It uses standard plastic shopping baskets, and a big plexiglass walled off hole in the floor lifts them skyward from several points in the store, where they all converge to the ONE person operated handler. You pay at the counter with a credit card right where you handle the display models. They’ve been using such systems in catalog supply houses for decades, but I’ve never seen it in a consumer walk-in store.

]]> http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/02/tomorrows-store-today/comment-page-1/#comment-13357 Advent Of Modern Shopping : SKIRMISHER Tue, 03 Oct 2006 03:01:26 +0000 http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/10/02/tomorrows-store-today/#comment-13357 [...] A number of department store features in this much-hyped 1947 masterplan of “the most modern department store” (Foley’s) are now commonplace, but seeing them in their original context can still engulf even the most jaded shopper with warm feelings of credit-card-emptying nostalgia. [...] [...] A number of department store features in this much-hyped 1947 masterplan of “the most modern department store” (Foley’s) are now commonplace, but seeing them in their original context can still engulf even the most jaded shopper with warm feelings of credit-card-emptying nostalgia. [...]

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