I'm reminded of a YouTube series which walks around malls on the brink of bankruptcy. Malls put forward a psuedo-utopian view of society, a place where people can come together (for commerce), but all of that matters 0% if there's less utility than Amazon.
Personally I love bureaus. Before I could afford the space for a home desk and extra monitor, I used an Ikea bureau with my laptop, for years, and i loved it. I looked at local (UK) prices for antique ones, about 10 years ago, but they cost 4 times as much; if prices have really crashed under £100 now, I might get one for my kids. Ergonomy is always an issue though, one has to be careful with proportions.
I found the George III inlaid mahogany bureau referenced in the story on the Gorringes (Lewes, UK) website [0] and saved to archive.org/is [1][2].
The sale price was £70, and the pre-sale estimate was £100-150. The story referenced a sale price of £85 including fees, so I guess the fees must have been £15.
[0] Lot 794, A George III inlaid mahogany bureau W.97cm https://auction.gorringes.co.uk/auction-lot-detail/170918/79...
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20181104033127/https://auction.g...
Are you serious?! Cookie cutter strip malls in every American suburb are very close to dystopia to me. I'd think that people who enjoy coming together for shopping would prefer a walkable downtown area with shops that are not chains, but are owned by the people who run them.
That's the only kind of thing that can compete with e-commerce.
Many malls are being successfully revived now specifically because they have meaningfully invested in making them community spaces (stages with daily performances, play areas for kids, even larger and better food courts, chess/checker boards and playing areas, etc) which is something that Amazon can never compete against (unless they get into malls of course).
You see a similar thing with "old mainstreet USA" which for many years people lamented were disappearing because of big box stores and white flight (many many cities in the southeast) which now are vibrant and booming because they invested, again, in community and human experience by widening sidewalks, subsidising new theaters, restaurants and bars, adding cheap or free downtown parking - it all worked! Cities like Winston-Salem, NC (the one I'm most familiar with) that were wastelands in the early 2000's but are amazing places to hang out (and shop!) now.
Anyway, I disagree that it is all about utility. Malls competing head to head with Amazon just on shopping are doomed because what else in that equation are you even offering except utility and savings? But the idea that utility necessarily trumps (twitch) community doesn't jibe with my understanding of the facts.
That specific example is an especially good one. I worked downtown in '99 - '01, and the only reason we'd ever spend time downtown outside work hours were the occasional free concerts in the summer. Apart from offices, it felt like a ghost town. Now, when I get back there to visit friends/family, downtown is a real destination. People live there. There are galleries, concerts, good restaurants, breweries, a distillery, theaters... it feels like a really nice small city. At least in the general neighborhood of the Stevens Center.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLejUkwZ-XJX_BKt3prjes...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNz4Un92pGNxQ9vNgmnCx...
Frankly that statement made me cringe. I have a few bureaus like the one in the article at home (my father has a passion for antiques) and the idea of using one of them for writing never crossed anybody's mind. They're obviously not ergonomic, but worse, they might get damaged (you'd rather not lean on the hinged writing surface of a 200 year old piece of furniture, it's not very solid). They're used to keep stuff, either open or closed. Your average papers, mantelpiece objects, assorted stuff, and of course phone and laptops in case of need, fit very well in the drawers and in the top compartment.
Do you remember the name / link?