Why the In-Person Retail Experience Matters More Than Ever

I recently came across a LinkedIn post from my friend Eli, in which he highlighted the disheveled state of a store at a time when the in-person retail experience has never been more important. His point struck a chord with me, because I see similar challenges all the time. Retail is in an interesting, and often difficult, place right now.

Bankruptcies, evolving trends, the rise of e-commerce, tariffs, staffing shortages...the headwinds are everywhere. And yet, for retailers that do operate physical stores, the pressure to cut labor and reduce costs is stronger than ever. Too often, the result is poor merchandising, diminished service, and an overall decline in the customer experience.

As a small specialty retailer with six stores, I see firsthand how complex this balancing act has become. For us, the challenges go far beyond recovery standards or store appearance. It’s about offering compensation that earns team buy-in without breaking the payroll budget. It’s about convincing customers to trust a small business over the comfort of a multi-national chain. It’s about building brand awareness in an environment where SEO and AI platforms often favor the big-box players.

Margins add another layer. How much can you give before you compromise the standards you’ve worked hard to establish? Even real estate poses hurdles as landlords often prefer the security of national chains rather than working through a deal that makes fiscal sense for an independent.

If these pressures feel heavy for a six-unit operation, I can only imagine how difficult they are for larger national retailers who care deeply about quality, but still see their standards slip at the store level. In fact, from my perspective, European retailers often seem more effective than U.S. retailers at maintaining consistency in customer experience, which makes our own shortcomings stand out all the more.

The truth is, maintaining quality and consistency in today’s retail landscape requires more intentionality than ever. Whether you’re running six stores or six hundred, the in-person experience is too important to neglect. It may be tempting to cut labor, rush visual resets, or shave operational corners, but customers notice — and in this environment, where every impression counts, those decisions have long-term consequences.

At Select Shades, we don’t get everything perfect, but we’ve learned that investing in our people, protecting our standards, and striving for consistency is what builds trust and loyalty. If retail is to thrive in this era of constant disruption, it will be through those small but critical decisions that protect the customer experience above all else.