How Google Glasses, Indoor Location, & Mobile Shopping Can Save Retail

If you roughly break down my purchases between leisure and utility, the former is the only one for which I will always go online. Even if I don't have domain expertise (let's say a stereo system), I'll basically just sort the list for the right combination of popularity and price, click away, hope for the best, and usually be satisfied.

When it comes to utility purchases though, I want to be in a small, niche store, talking to an expert, handling the good in question, even if it means something of a drive.

The classic example of this is the mom-and-pop hardware store. Rarely it seems is there the town without one, even if there's a Walmart or Home Depot a block away sucking the soul out of everything else. Going to Home Depot with any kind of question, I feel like I'm one of the ghosts against an advanced pac-man player...then when I finally catch an employee, they often can't answer the simplest of questions.