“That’s unrealistic, I think.”
You means stores should not have inventory? I think having inventory is the very definition of a store.
Part of the problem is that even if a store has inventory/upstock, the store may not have the manpower/hours/payroll to put it out on the sales floor. And I’m my neck of the woods, inventories seem to be running pretty lean anyway. Inventory costs money to buy and store. More to put out. More to get rid of if it doesn’t sell. It’s a vicious cycle.
The internet spoils us with the infinite variety of items that we can purchase. In the old days there weren’t that many brands of toilet paper, cereal, etc. But today we can get very specific things. Most stores can’t carry the variety that Amazon can produce.