To expand on this. The internet has for ever changed retail sales of all sectors. The Big Box stores were(are) expensive endeavors that require tons of capital to open. This capital typically was raised on Wall St. The Big Box stores were paying 10-20% of their revenue to service this debt and any slow down in growth created a death spiral. With the downward trend of retail brick and mortar stores, Wall St is not financing the next Big Box Retailer anytime soon.

What retailers are discovering is that people still want a physical place to go; to touch and feel the product that they want to buy. This has created a space for small independent retailers to pop up and start to thrive as their profit motivations for their storefront are different than a corporate structure that is answering to shareholders and banks. Opening a bookstore right now might not make someone wealthy but if run smartly will provide a living. This is a different value prop than what a corporate Big Box Store would be looking at.

I consulted on a independent bookstore that opened in the last year. The owners recently cashed out of a tech company and they own the office building where they bookstore is (with the office spaces at 90% occupancy). Their expectations is that the bookstore doesn't lose money. By building the retail store frontage out they increase the equity in the building, have depreciable expenses to write against their taxes, and have a forward facing entry into the community at large to use as a spring board for their future philanthropy. Factors that do not come up with pitching a Big Box Retail Store.