THE FUTURE OF RETAIL PART 2: Why Curated Retail Wins Where E-Commerce Can’t
There’s a tension most retailers gloss over:
If consumers can buy your merchandise online, why would they ever buy it in-store? And the inverse is just as important: If they can only buy it in-store, why bother offering it online at all?
This is where the difference between purchasing and remembering becomes strategic.
I first understood this at Planet 13.
The Planet 13 Lesson: Apparel Isn’t Merch — It’s a Memory Vehicle
Inside Planet 13, apparel wasn’t treated as a category. It was treated as awareness media.
The belief: Visitors would buy a hoodie, fly home, and suddenly the brand was walking through airports, campuses, and cities all over the country.
It worked for Hard Rock Cafes in the ’80s. A t-shirt wasn’t a t-shirt — it was shorthand for “I was there. I lived that moment. I’m part of the culture.”
But then Planet 13 started to sell apparel online.
And that’s where the strategy wobbled.
Because the real question emerged:
Why would I buy a Planet 13 sweatshirt online - especially if I already visited the superstore?
The only compelling answer was: to remember a great visit to Las Vegas and the Planet 13 superstore experience AND to rep the brand and cannabis lifestyle (if you know, you know!)
But then we hit the second strategic question:
If I can buy the same hoodie online…why buy it in the store?
Which leads to the unlock.
The Unlock: Separate What’s Scarce From What’s Shareable
In-store → unique, collab, LTO pieces
Scarcity
Geographical uniqueness
“If you know, you know” cultural capital
Premium fabrics, elevated workmanship
You must visit to get it — that’s the point
Online → evergreen reminders of the experience
The things you “rep” at home
More universal designs
The digital extension of the physical memory, not a substitute for it
See content credentials
In other words:
In-store merch signals identity. Online merch signals affinity.
Two different jobs. Two different emotional triggers. Two different business levers.
What This Means for Experiential Retail (when you're on vacation)
Sure — you can buy a generic Vail sweatshirt online.
But that’s not why people go to Vail. And it’s definitely not why they walk into Vail-branded retail.
Vacation unlocks two powerful psychological effects:
1. Elevated willingness to spend
When people are having a once-a-year experience, they buy differently. A $180 hoodie at home feels indulgent. On vacation, it feels like a memory worth keeping.
2. Desire for artifacts of the experience
Not souvenirs. Artifacts. Items that prove they were there — and capture how it felt.
This is where curated, premium, location-exclusive merchandise wins. Think:
Artist collaborations from local mountain creatives
Limited-run designs tied to snowfalls, opening day, or iconic runs
Premium-grade apparel you only get at that specific mountain
“Official” Vail gear that telegraphs belonging to the culture
This model does two things simultaneously:
1. It protects the in-person retail trip. You can’t replace the experience — or the exclusivity — online.
2. It gives online merch a clearer role. Not competition with the store, but continuation of the memory.
This Is the Blueprint for Modern Resort Retail
In-store = scarcity + story + sensory experience (“I bought this because I was there.”)
Online = memory + identity + accessibility (“I wore this because I remember what it felt like to be there.”)
When retailers collapse these two roles, they commoditize the very thing they could be premiumizing.
But when they design intentionally for both, they unlock a flywheel:
Experience → Purchase → Memory → Brand Signal → Return Trip
That’s the untapped value of vacation retail and merchandise.
