It's the same with record stores, like the old Virgin MegaStores. There's hardly any music store in Manhattan, everything going the way of iTunes - which a normal visitor to the US cannot get to.
And recently even clothing retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch are struggling, having to close down some stores as well.
All in all brick and mortar retail is getting hammered all over the place. Much like the big retailers and super malls caused the downfall of many local "shop around the corner" stores, they themselves are getting killed by the internet. It is already logistically not much more difficult to shop online, buy and have everything shipped to your home. And most of the inconveniences of real-life shopping would be avoided. No crowds, no finding a parking spot when there's none, no schlepping around heavy bags.
But this all points to a greater and more dangerous trend, which is the decline of the high street, and even more drastic, the end of cities as we know them. If you don't need brick and mortar retail stores anymore, and you can't justify paying the rent of prime real estate, and there's a perfectly good online option that more and more people are comfortable with, what will be left to do in the city?
Going even more extreme, what would be next? People go into the city to shop, to entertain themselves and to meet. With all the social media going around, it won't be much longer before even meeting people doesn't require actually physically being there. All you need is a social device, a smart phone of some sorts, and a 4G data connection. That means you don't need local pubs anymore.
What would be left? Restaurants? Upscale $ 5.000 booze serving bars? Cities are slowly becoming more virtual, and their traditional roles of places to meet, shop, eat and drink is being taken over by the internet.
And I think it's a shame. New York certainly isn't as fun anymore if all that's left is buildings, with no people around, and nowhere to go.
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