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I don't think this will fly for books. But this may work for CE (consumer electronics)
In the US, CE chains like good guys and circuit city have gone out of business. Basically there's only (struggling) Best Buy left, plus other smaller regional chains. Now, you can list all sort of reasons such as poor management and poor customer service for their woes, but the bottom line is the B&M CE stores simply cannot survive as de facto show room for Amazon et al which do not have the same overhead and in most cases have the additional advantage of not collecting sales tax.
At some point, the B&M CE stores will all go out of business. Then what? I'm quite comfortable buying some things based solely on specs and reviews, but some things I really need to get hands on and eyes on, esp big expensive items like large screen TVs. I suspect the same for many people. Will Amazon open their own store? Will each CE mgfr open their own stores, a la Apple? I think we may see CE showrooms that charge a small entrance fee ( reimbursable if you spend some minimum amount in store).
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