The Amazon in the room
Bezos: “Alexa, buy me something from Whole Foods”
Alexa: “Buying Whole Foods”
Bezos: S**t
— Jeff Lewis (@ChicagoPhotoSho) on Twitter
When local small-business success story Pet Food Express wanted to open in a blighted, long-vacant building on Lombard Street, pet stores as far away as Pacifica formed a coalition to stop them. At community meetings, owner after owner talked about the adverse effect a “chain” would have on their livelihood, but what struck me was that not one of them mentioned the elephant in the room — online sales — and in particular the biggest elephant of them all, Amazon.com.