Same thing is happening in the greater Boston area. Many city centers have empty store fronts. Even some chains don't survive the high rent. Walgreens opened a

Same thing is happening in the greater Boston area. Many city centers have empty store fronts. Even some chains don't survive the high rent. Walgreens opened a huge space in the city center of Cambridge just across the street of a busy CVS. They closed it down about a year later. Just think how much money they wasted on this. For me the biggest problem is the independent restaurants and coffee shops that cannot afford the high rent. They have to increase prices to survive. Most people are not willing to pay $4 for coffee or $12 for a sandwich. When you go to a coffee place you're not thinking about the rent the place is paying and if their prices are justifiable or not. Many people find cheaper places to go to. These places are usually run by people that either lucked out with landlords who didn't increase their rent for many years, or ones who own the property and are not affected by increasing rents. Others mentioned banks that don't mind losing money because the physical presence helps their Online banking. I noticed this trend around where I live too. A new coffee shop was recently opened after the place was sitting empty for many months. The new place runs by a catering company. They probably don't mind if the place is losing money as long as it helps their catering business. It's a different way of doing marketing.