Retail and Real Estate: The Dimension of Spatial Evolution

When the first shops appeared in the fifteenth century as “fixed points of sale,” until today, when we see a “de-investment” from physical space toward digital space, location has been an important factor for the success of any business. The pandemic, in combination with the e-commerce boom, calls into question the importance of this factor. Businesses can reach hyperlocal audiences through modern digital channels that physical stores in a fixed location until recently could not. In any case, the location of a retail business in physical space correlates with its visibility and accessibility to consumers and competitors. In this chapter, we will navigate through the different periods in retail history, identifying the impact of different trends on space. The path from city centers to the suburbs and backward, with e-commerce acting as a complement in a “symbiotic relationship with physical stores,” is particularly interesting to us in this chapter.