BERLIN — The history of modern retailing runs like this: Mom-and-pop shops fall prey to superstores that, in turn, get squeezed out by the international giants of online commerce.Germany, however, is writing a chapter that is injecting fresh life into main streets and shopping malls around the country.Struggling to compete with e-commerce global behemoths such as Amazon, Germany’s online retailers are moving back to bricks-and-mortar in order to attract “omni-channel” clients — customers who want to be able to blend the benefits of online browsing with shopping in cool, real-world stores.
