Editor'a Take: A Reason to Recall Catalog Showrooms

I started covering what we then called the mail order catalog business in 1986, only three years removed from that first job, and was quickly reminded that the two industries had almost nothing in common beyond their differing uses of catalogs.

Flash-forward to the present, and I feel like I'm witnessing the modern equivalent of the bygone catalog showroom business. Brick-and-mortar retailers have adapted many practices that are similar to those catalog and internet retailers have used for years. You won't find clipboards in stores, but retailers are targeting customers with catalogs and store fliers better than they have in the past.