Everyone in my family is in retail, except me -- unless you consider this journalism gig equivalent to selling snake oil. My mother and sisters have run wearable-art galleries and design-centered shops for a couple of decades, and they seem to be pretty good at it. They travel around the United States and the world, looking for distinctive items to show and sell

I've been nagging them to check out cyberspace and perhaps even open a store front, but they're holding out. Their reluc isn't the product of technophobia: They have been using computers for inventory, accounting and other back-office stuff for years. More to the point is the business itself: retail items for walk-in customers. It is hard for them to think beyond the geographic boundaries of their existing market.

That's understandable: They prospered in an era in which the retailer's mantra was "location is everything." But it might be time for a mental readjustment. After all, they travel a lot in search of products, and many of their customers come quite a distance to see the goodies they discovered on those trips. Geography might be a lot less relevant than they think.