War and Empty Shelves

The most revolutionary change introduced around 1852 by Aristide Boucicaut at Le Bon Marché, the Paris shop in which he was a partner, was allowing customers to move freely among the goods and make their own selections. No questioning shop assistants, no eager salesmen, no importuning. One could look in silence and leave without buying anything, and without being asked why one had come. Boucicaut died a very wealthy man in 1877. The habit of looking in silence spread rapidly. Buying and selling without words, haggling or eye contact became an everyday reality by the end of the twentieth century.

Today it is self-evident. It is difficult to converse with a sandwich-and-coffee vending machine or a self-service checkout.

Judging by the photographs illustrating events in Russia, wars too are apparently to be decided without thermobaric rocket launchers or drones.

There is a widespread expectation that empty shelves will determine the outcome. This may prove an illusory hope. Empty shelves signify something entirely different in East and West.