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Eight years ago, the Sunday Times proclaimed that “The Silver Tsunami is Closing in”(Sunday Times 2010). Our society’s structure is changing from a world with a high portion of young people towards a society where older people are the largest demographic. This shift has tremendous implications not just for society, but on services and service research, too. Service provision, customer engagement, and customer experience practice and research need to address this monumental change.

While the increased average age of consumers seems widely accepted, scholars largely ignore the societal change and the consequences for service research and practice. This special issue puts age and its impact on services in the spotlight.