Virtual shopping will take over in next 30 years

High street retailers could be a thing of the past by 2050 as virtual reality takes over the way we shop, experts predict.

The only time we can expect to be asked “are you being served?” is when interacting with an artificially intelligent app.

The kind of department store epitomised by Grace Brothers in the 1970s sitcom of that name is likely to be consigned to history by the middle of the century.