At the time of writing, Zurich’s most famous department store Manor is closing. U.S. American corporations like JCPenney and Barneys New York are bankrupt, and so is the department store chain Neiman Marcus. What is left of Sears, once the world’s largest retailer, survives on emergency credit. Amazon, for its part, has seen massive increases in revenue in the same period. Hybrid retailers, with a presence both online and on the street, are rapidly trying to adapt their business models. Zara, for instance, may close over a thousand of its shops, even as it sees online sales increase by a half. The department store was already in trouble, not least because of online shopping and the increasing vertical integration of luxury brands. Successful brands, that once vied with each other to be displayed in department stores, now seem hampered by them. The department store, a genre of business that has a continuous history that goes back to the 19th century, is officially toast. This will have consequences.