Until this damn MIT just in time supply chain crap is done away with, brick and mortar will continue to disappear. Other than stuff I need right this minute, I never go to the store because they never have what I need and I refuse to just buy what they have.
The home depot/lowes type store will always do well because when you need a 2x4 or hammer, you need it now, but a new pair of jeans I can wait a week...
JIT derives, I think, from inventory taxation, more than any other thing.
Used to be that retailers could convert profit to inventory or flooring to reduce their tax rate.
Nowadays you have to pay tax on inventory that may sit there getting taxed over and over for years.
Don't make sense to carry anything but quick turnover stuff - That's when the auto parts stores quit stocking old and odd parts... I used to be able to walk into Weissman's (industrial supply warehouse) and pick just about everything I needed right off the shelf - Ordering was an oddity. Same with auto parts stores. Same with building supplies... All the way up here in Timbuckfour.
Think of the value of all that stuff - Getting taxed again and again. Warehouses emptied.
Now... the strange thing is... How do big-box stores get around that now?