The gig economy is coming to a shop near you

Apps that let retailers hire freelance staff by the shift are increasing in popularity.

- Sarah O'Connor

It is two weeks before Christmas at west London's Westfield shopping centre, and the shops are fully staffed. Emma Sleep, a trendy new mattress store, is no exception. But the smiling staff in their Emma Sleep T-shirts aren't employed by the retailer. In fact, they aren't employed by anyone. They are self-employed freelancers, who have been hired to perform that day's shift on an app called Young Ones.

Until now, the growth of the gig economy has been very visible: In cities all over the world, supposedly self-employed delivery riders have filled the streets with their branded jackets and boxy thermal bags. But now the gig concept is beginning to creep into the bricks-and-mortar economy of shops and restaurants. And as the Emma Sleep store manager Suzanne Robinson told me when I popped in unannounced last week, "it's invisible, really, to the outside world".