The summer bestseller you read on the way to work, a flower delivery for your sister’s birthday, dinner made fresh from your weekly meal kit— today you can have every part of your day ordered online and delivered to you without ever leaving your home. But what about your favorite shop around the corner or even the malls of your childhood? With the growing convenience and efficiency of online shopping come questions about the future of traditional retail. Are brick-and-mortar stores fated to crumble under the weight of the e-commerce boom? Or will online and traditional stores find ways to coexist?

On this episode of the Ideas Podcast, we’re going to one place where the future of retail is already in full swing: Tokyo. Akira Ito, CEO of Itoya, takes us on a tour of the stationery company’s 115 year-old flagship location. As we explore Itoya’s twelve-story playground of paper, we learn how Japan’s oldest stationery company has continued to thrive by curating experiences that keep customers shopping in their store. Then, Masahiro Ito, an executive director at ZOZO, Japan’s largest online apparel retailer, brings us into a future where that personalized, face-to-face shopping experience will be replicated on the Internet. And we visit Topdrawer, a store in Brookline, Massachusetts, where the best of both worlds has made its way into the American retail experience. Along the way, Morgan Stanley’s Managing Director of Retail Research, Kimberly Greenberger, highlights the power of the shopper’s rising expectations in shaping the future of retail.

The host Ashley Milne-Tyte is a contractor of Pineapple Street Media. The guest speakers are neither employees nor affiliated with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. (“Morgan Stanley”). The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Morgan Stanley. The information and figures contained herein has been obtained from sources outside of Morgan Stanley and Morgan Stanley makes no representations or guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of information or data from sources outside of Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley is not responsible for the information or data contained in this podcast.

This podcast does not provide individually tailored investment advice and is not a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of persons who receive it.

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