Here is a company that should have loved the internet more than anybody.
It spent a century selling by catalog. Pick an item from a book, mail an order, wait for a box. Online retail is that exact business with faster pages.
The transition should have been effortless.
So why is a mail order company from Freeport, Maine spending serious money in 2026 opening new stores and rebuilding its flagship?
Eight new locations planned. A major flagship renovation. Real capital, into buildings, in an era when the received wisdom says buildings are the problem.
The answer is a number most people never think about, and once you see it, the whole shape of modern retail snaps into focus.
It costs a fortune to acquire a customer online.
Let me show you what that means.