Brick-and-mortar retailers are fighting back against competition from the Internet and developing new retail concepts.

Shopping centers and high streets will soon be superfluous because customers will order everything online anyway thanks to online retail. This was the theory of many market observers, but it is now clear that this is not the case. Brick-and-mortar retailers have long since taken measures to counter the competition from the Internet. They are developing new retail concepts and formats that have one thing in common: Stores as we used to know them are no longer really stores.

The trend towards new or modified location concepts prompted the research team at real estate company Catella to look into the question of whether increasing digital retail will make European retail spaces obsolete in the medium term. “The fact is that digitalization and demographic change will change demand patterns and lead to a reduction in retail space,” says Thomas Beyerle, Head of Research at the real estate company, summarizing the results.

The 28 EU member states currently have a total of around 590 million square meters of retail space, 510 to 550 million square meters of which will still be available in 2030 according to Catella’s forecast. So that doesn’t sound like a huge extinction of stores. Retailers are also finding new unique selling points in competition with e-commerce providers – for example, what Beyerle calls the “festivalization” of shopping: more and more providers, especially of high-quality products, are focusing on the experiential nature of shopping. Many retailers are therefore beginning to celebrate the shopping event and the brand in addition to the actual product.

A major project currently under construction in Switzerland, “The Circle at Zurich Airport”, is consistently geared towards such considerations: Riken Yamamoto has designed a building complex for the airport that is not only currently the largest building construction project in the country, but also aims to set new standards in terms of use. “The Circle” is no ordinary airport mall, but is intended to function like a city center, with narrow alleyways, small squares and a high quality of stay.

However, the area in which the retailers are to be located will differ significantly from a typical city center. Consequently, it is not called “Shopping Mall” at The Circle, but “Brands & Dialogue” – because this is not about shopping at all, but rather about trying out new formats for customer loyalty. For example, the luxury watch brand Omega will open a “Brand House” here. The focus is not on selling watches, only a very small store is planned. However, a large part of the 800 square meters will be occupied by a show workshop. Up to 40 employees will introduce visitors to the art of Swiss watchmaking and show how a ceramic movement works or how dials are made.

Another trend topic and unique selling point of the stationary retail trade that real estate professionals are currently talking about is the combination of retail and gastronomy. Many industry observers consider the Italian concept Eataly, which opened its first European location outside Italy last November in the converted Schrannenhalle in Munich, to be a prime example of this. The 4,600 square meter space houses 16 restaurants and food stalls, a shopping area with 10,000 delicatessen products and a cooking school – and even a small store for the traditional bicycle brand Bianchi. Eataly was founded in 2007 and is considered one of the fastest growing and most successful food service and retail companies with a recent turnover of around 400 million euros. The concept combines markets, restaurants, teaching facilities and show productions of Italian food under one roof – and prefers to rent space in prominent locations. The world’s largest branch, Eataly Alti Cibi, is located on Fifth Avenue in New York, directly opposite the Flatiron Building.

Whether watch workshop, restaurant or cooking school – the common goal of these retail concepts is to create a sensual counterpoint to sober online shopping. And the formats are quite space-intensive, usually covering around a thousand square meters or, as in the case of Eataly in Munich, many times that amount. However, the future of retail can also be seen in small spaces, where the connection between offline and online retail is being tested. The sporting goods retailer Decathlon, for example, known for its huge stores near the highway, launched its new concept called “Decathlon Connect” in February 2016 with its first city store on Munich’s Stachus.

In the stores of this format, the focus is on networking with the online store and other digital services: customers can have the sporting goods purchased via the online store delivered to the Connect store. There, the goods can be tested, tried on and exchanged if they are not to their liking when they pick them up. On-site tablets can be used to search for other collections, colors or models, which can also be ordered directly in the store.
Decathlon only needs a comparatively small space for this: The store on Stachus is 220 square meters in size; another Decathlon Connect has since opened on Königstraße in Stuttgart with just 50 square meters of space. Electronics retailer Saturn and toy chain Toys’R’Us, among others, have also introduced similar formats. In view of these new retail concepts, it is reasonable to assume that malls, shopping centers and inner-city shopping streets will change their face in the coming years; Catella researchers also assume this. However, Beyerle is convinced that bricks-and-mortar retail centers will retain one of their most important functions: “Increasing digitalization and constant networking will not replace the need for physical, social contact, but will complement it and demand it more than ever.” In the retail spaces of the future, the aspect of shopping will therefore only represent a partial element. At best, they will be places where urban life pulsates.

Crypt archaeology? Another archaeology within an increasingly differentiated and specialized discipline? Crypt archaeology is still difficult to google, and there is no Wikipedia article either. The term probably first appeared in 2011 at the conference called “Transmortale”, which was jointly organized by the University of Hamburg and the Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel. The […]

Crypt archaeology? Another archaeology within an increasingly differentiated and specialized discipline?

Crypt archaeology is still difficult to google, and there is no Wikipedia article either. The term probably first appeared in 2011 at the conference called “Transmortale”, which was jointly organized by the University of Hamburg and the Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel. The protagonists who presented the topic are the same people who are now responsible for the book to be published. Some of them have been working underground for much longer, documenting crypts, struggling with fungal and mold infestation and often enough not only with the natural phenomena of transience, but also with the consequences of incorrect measures taken in the past or even with pure vandalism. And what can you do when twisted coffins are piled on top of each other in the crypt? What to do with the often mummified mortal remains, their clothing and grave goods? What can be saved, restored and perhaps made accessible to the public, how, with what effort and with what result? The collective of authors is also confronted with ethical questions. What should we do with these bodies that were laid to rest here for eternity some time ago? And they by no means leave it at reverence, but also shed light on the legal background when it comes to the ownership of the bodies or burial objects.

The topic certainly has a future, as burial vaults are increasingly being (re)discovered due to the growing awareness of priests, cemetery administrators, castle and mausoleum owners. Especially since the Reformation, the need for such exclusive burial sites has increased among the upper classes. Crypts can be found under almost every church that once had a noble patron who established his family burial place there. And as late as the 18th and 19th centuries, parishes were still building basements under their churches to create space for grand burial crypts. And what becomes of them once they have been restored – if the money was available? The interdisciplinary group of authors, ranging from archaeologists, historians and lawyers to textile restorers, addresses all these questions and proposes solutions that draw on a wealth of experience.

Although the “Cemetery Culture Today” series published by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences is primarily aimed at specialists in the cemetery sector, monument conservators, art historians and restorers will also find this book useful if they ever have to deal with the sepulchral underworld. And that will be the case more and more often. Above all, the case studies described provide suggestions as to how different the approach and results can be. It is not a guideline that should be followed when working on crypts in general, but rather documents that every crypt is different. You will not be overwhelmed by the size of the book, but it remains pleasingly compact and moderately priced. If you want to find out more about crypt archaeology, this is the book for you – but it is the only one currently available.

Preuß, Dirk et alii (ed.): Saving tombs! Ein Leitfaden zum pietätvollen Umgang mit historischen Grüften (Schriftenreihe Friedhofskultur heute, Vol. 5), Frankfurt/M 2014. ISBN 978-3-943787-29-0, 156 pages, 16 pages of color photos, € 18.