Back in 1992, retail was booming with new concepts and products. It was a time of great innovation with the rise of category killers, strip malls and supercenters — the internet and e-commerce was barely a glimmer in the horizon.
But the first crack in a fissure that would later deeply divide the industry was forming — with brick-and-mortar retailers and U.S. states on one side, and e-commerce and marketplace companies on the other.