Josh Horton says he buys 90 percent of this clothes online, so what is he doing at the mall?
He's trying on clothes from a store that won't let you take their clothes home.
"I come in here, I try on different sizes, different colors. It's been great," said Horton.
The store is located at Westfield UTC in San Diego and is owned by Bonobos, the online retailer for men's clothes.
The company is opening up "Guideshops" around the country that allow people to see, feel and try on their clothes, but they still have to buy them online.
"You purchase the clothes in the store," said Guideshop manager Megan Cram, "but you actually don't walk out with anything."
Bonobos encourages customers to make an appointment and come in for personalized service. The store sells jeans, chino pants, shirts and even suits, but if you find what you like, you have to go onto the Bonobos website and order.
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The order is shipped for free and takes three to five days to arrive. But in a society of instant gratification, will shoppers want to wait to get their order?
San Diego State marketing professor George Belch said we are seeing a tremendous change in retailing.
"You're now looking at a consumer who says, 'I don't need to walk out with it. I have patience to wait a day or two until it is delivered,'" said Belch.
Josh Dipert agrees: "Usually we do a lot of shopping on Amazon, so we get stuff overnight anyway, so it's pretty easy."
It appears "millennial" shoppers are used to instant access to information and then waiting for online orders to be shipped to their door. That appears to be the target audience for this Bonobos experiment.
Many of the items sell for between $88 and $98 and seem to be marketed to a younger shopper.
Megan Cram with Bonobos said shoppers who have come into the store know exactly what they are getting. As for other online retailers who might try the same thing? Cram said, "I think we are really in the forefront of retail."
