The summer of outdoor commerce

But I welcome the idea that Berkeley, California, and Vilnius, Lithuania have proposed to close certain streets to allow for outdoor restaurant seating, and hope it catches on where it’s safe to do so. Let’s redraw cities for people, not cars, this summer.

While any human contact increases the risk that coronavirus might spread, being outside, where there’s natural ventilation, and with ample space between people and groups, seems safer than any extended indoor gathering.

Many, especially the elderly, will need to take further precautions. But where it’s safe, let’s get creative and radically repurpose outdoor spaces for the time.

And then — especially in the business press — because it furthered the narrative that even the hugest of consumer goods companies, long stuck in codependent relationships with the hugest of retailers, would start trying to sell more of their products direct.

Some benefits also favor larger companies with multiple brands and businesses, such as the ability to steer customers between like-minded brands, introduce them to newer and more niche brands, lower their all-in customer acquisition costs, and eventually, build some leverage over large retailers. This is part of why you see many single-brand direct... See more