Originally Posted by reeftool 
The Last Camera Store
Over they years, I developed a clear vision of what is happenning here and I am eager to share it with you:
(1) Retail stores sell a mixture of consultancy and delivery. People use the internet to get cheapest delivery and only enter retail stores to get free consultancy which includes a free "showroom service".
(2) Therefore, all retail stores die (except for the very last ones which transform into stage #3, cf. below).
(3) Once dead, a new type of retail store will arrive: free delivery (read same price as the internet) but paid consultancy which includes an entrance fee for the "showroom service". The consultancy is paid per visit or an annual membership fee. It isn't as obvious as everybody thinks that entrance into a retail store is free. I remember to have seen shop signs (when I was a kid) reading: "entrance is free".
A variant of #3 are free "showroom only" stores run by manufacturers. They will appear in the early phase of this stage and disappear at a later phase.
Of course, stage #3 can only happen after #2 has happened. Therefore, there are reasons to accelerate #2 to sooner arrive at stage #3.
A few exceptions exist already now (where one company controls both, retail and the internet sales channels) which allow to have a glimpse at how stage #3 will look like. One example are the florishing Apple stores.