Ah, in-store shopping—once the pinnacle of weekend leisure, now a battlefield of frustration. The internet didn’t kill brick-and-mortar stores, but it sure as heck made them worse. Much worse. Gone are the days of leisurely browsing through fully stocked aisles. Instead, we’re left with locked shelves, barren racks, and an experience that feels more like a scavenger hunt on hard mode.
Picture this: You walk into a store looking for that cute dress you saw online, only to find that it’s nowhere to be found. The sales associate gives you a half-hearted smile and suggests you order it online—exactly what you were trying to avoid. You’ve just become another victim of what the retail world calls “SOS—Save Our Sale.” What a charming euphemism for “Sorry, We’ve Got Nothing.”
According to a study by AlixPartners, on average only 9% of online women’s clothing is available in physical stores. Department stores are even worse at 7%, and mass merchants are scraping the bottom of the barrel with a sad 2%. It’s like walking into a restaurant and finding out they only serve three things from the menu—and one of them is “out of stock.”
Retailers like to say they’re committed to offering a seamless shopping experience, whether online or in stores. But let’s be real: the only thing seamless is how quickly they shift your expectations from “I’m going to find what I need today” to “I guess I’ll be waiting 3-5 business days.”
The internet has turned physical stores into mere showrooms. Sure, you can look, touch, and feel, but don’t expect to actually buy what you want. Stores have become haunted houses of retail—stocked with ghost inventory that exists only online. Meanwhile, the actual products sit miles away in some soulless warehouse, waiting to be drop-shipped to your door.
Of course, there are exceptions. Luxury brands like Hermès still offer that old-world charm. Nordstrom is hanging on by a thread with its service. And yes, there’s something magical about sifting through the chaos at T.J. Maxx. But these are the outliers in a retail landscape that’s increasingly barren.
The irony is palpable. Nearly three-quarters of consumers say they prefer shopping in physical stores, yet only 9% are satisfied with the experience. It’s like preferring to dine out but being served a TV dinner. The lack of product variety and availability is a slap in the face to anyone who thought they could outsmart the algorithm by shopping IRL.
Take Abercrombie & Fitch, for example. Their spokesperson says it’s “difficult” for stores to carry the full assortment of jeans. Difficult? We’re not asking for an artisan-crafted, bespoke pair of denim—just a size 27 in the style you plaster all over your website. Yet, the internet has made even this simple request feel like asking for the moon.
Retailers, in their infinite wisdom, have also cut down inventory to avoid the overstock issues they faced during the pandemic. But some cut too close to the bone, leaving stores looking like the aftermath of a going-out-of-business sale. And let’s not even talk about those “helpful” apps that let you check in-store availability online—because nothing screams convenience like driving 20 minutes only to discover that the app was “a little behind on inventory updates.”
The solution? Well, some retailers are pivoting back to prioritizing in-store experiences. Belk, for example, closed its online fulfillment center and now keeps all its inventory in stores. It’s a bold move—one that might just work, assuming they don’t fumble the execution. Because nothing says retail redemption like actually having stuff to sell.
Until then, in-store shopping will remain a dystopian exercise in disappointment. The internet may have made shopping easier, but it also robbed us of the joy of instant gratification, replacing it with the now-familiar refrain: “We can ship it to you.”
