Real estate isn’t instantly scalable. It takes years of planning and decades of execution to create a truly scalable city. With stores, they’re squeezed on bo

Real estate isn’t instantly scalable. It takes years of planning and decades of execution to create a truly scalable city. With stores, they’re squeezed on both ends: Pressure from online retailers and then exorbitant rents. It’s not unusual to have monthly rents that go into mid-five figures for a small store at ground level. Few small businesses can sustain that in the long term.