It's approaching the point where we'll be more concerned with how far away the closest Amazon distribution center is than the closest brick and mortar store of your choosing. I live south of 44 and moved down here with no intention of buying down here. Haven't regretted a minute of it. As long as we get somewhere closer to buy groceries and fill a cart up with gas every couple of weeks, that will satisfy me as everything else, food and retail, is "close enough". There is plenty of land sitting down here that is zoned "commercial", but they are not going to open up businesses and take a loss until the population meets their thresholds. Every big box business has demographic metrics that determine whether or not their business should be profitable in a given location and they typically don't invest based on projections or potential. Once those metrics start getting met and exceeded, they will come.
I can't count how many times I've driven to local brick and mortar stores looking for specific items, only to find things not in stock or not in my size. Then I go back home and order what I want online. Sometimes I order what I want while I'm still standing there in the store, disappointed that I can't get it right there.
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