Guest contributor Steven Cornwell, Global Director of ERA-co, notes that for a decade and a half, the question “Can physical space survive the internet?” has been asked as though it were still open. It isn’t. Brick-and-mortar retail already had this fight — and won it, not by beating e-commerce, but by becoming something e-commerce cannot be. What happens to commercial real estate when “going to work” stops meaning going anywhere?

Despite economic headwinds, U.S. retailers are still opening thousands of stores annually—but the strategy has fundamentally shifted from volume-driven growth to data-informed, risk-conscious site selection, where location quality, total occupancy costs, and supply chain logistics now outweigh the simple desire to expand