Sur La Table

Sur La Table's July 2020 bankruptcy collapsed the upscale kitchenware retailer after COVID shuttered its cooking classes, which drove store traffic. The company had relied on in-store experiences - classes, demonstrations, tactile product interaction - that COVID made impossible. E-commerce couldn't replace the experiential model. CSC Generation acquired Sur La Table, closing most stores and pivoting to online. The failure demonstrated that retailers built on experience couldn't simply shift to e-commerce; the experience was the product.