Retail Closures, Vertical Warehouses, Distribution Blimps, and Flying Cars

Here is a roundup of a few interesting bits of news that cropped up in the past week…

In another installment of major retail closures, Sears Holdings announced that it will close an additional 46 Sears and Kmart locations this fall. This came on the heels of Lowe’s announcement that it intends to close all Orchard Supply Hardware store locations by early next year. The Sears and Kmart stores are scattered throughout the country while Orchard Supply’s 99 locations are concentrated in California, Oregon, and Florida. All told, that’s a lot of large retail space that’s about to be vacant…how will those spaces be adapted?

Perhaps they will become vertical warehouses if Amazon’s pending patent application is approved. If a multistory distribution center that looks like a skyscraper sounds a bit unbelievable, check out the story about Amazon’s additional patent application for an airborne fulfillment center that looks like a blimp. The e-commerce giant intends to use drones to access the flying warehouse. Just imagine what THAT air traffic might look like…

And speaking of air traffic, Japan is reportedly working with Uber and Boeing to make flying cars a reality. (You have to see it to believe it. Check out the embedded video to see what the future of flying cars might actually look like.)

More news coming soon!