End times for the brick and mortar?

Louis Black’s hilarious riff on Starbucks.
It’s worth watching in light of Starbucks announcement.

Starbucks is what happens when becoming big is more important than becoming great. When flooding a marketplace with too many locations drains the balance sheet.

Sound familiar?

Brokers: Have you ever stood between your many locations, looked at your watch and noticed time just standing still?

If so, maybe it’s time to start pruning like Starbucks. Let’s face it, Starbucks can’t exist unless people physically shop in their stores. But what about you? Can you thrive without locations?

End times?

With gas at $5.00 a gallon, with the cost of all goods and supplies skyrocketing, I wonder:

• What is the fate of the retail real estate location?
• What is the benefit of a high rent storefront in today’s marketplace?
• Do those benefits outweigh the disadvantages?
• In 25 years will real estate be completely virtual?
• Will we see competitive virtual brokerages take market share and thrive or is that a pipe dream?

I’m interested in your thoughts. From agents who work entirely from home to brokers who are either trimming fat or afraid too.

See here’s a thing — if the trend is to trim, cut and close, you’re going to need to build your profile online. And in that regard, you will no longer be able to get by with a run of the mill web presence. You are going to have to start staking serious claim on the Internet.

Are you ready for that? Do you know where to begin? If not, that’s what this is all about. Let’s get the issues out in the open.

– Davison