honest (open collection - framed print) · Toronto / Canada · 2016

Retail is the last link in the supply chain, where merchandise meets consumer. Its history in brief: markets (outdoor, indoor ~ 10,000 years) → stores / shopping centers (specialty, warehouse, discount, department / mall, arcade, precinct ~ 2,000 years)  → mail order (catalogue, TV, online ~ 180 years). Evidently, the major transformations of retail have been few over the millennia and none of its channels are extinct as of today. Still, there are rapid transitions in the details and what’s inventive today will be old hat tomorrow. Iconic discount store Honest Ed’s (1948 – 2016) in Toronto could no longer keep up with the pace of Walmart, Amazon & Co; but no matter how long their day in the sun, eventually it will come to an end as well – history says so and history is honest.
 
 
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tags: Toronto, Ontario, Canada, North America, cityscape, store, shop, retail, architecture, travel, living room, horizontal