And Amazon.

...the challenge is landlords who see gentrification as an opportunity to hold out for higher end retailers.

and goes out of business, leaving you with an empty building and no tenant seems pretty stupid.

Maybe landlords can allow business to stay in exchange for a percentage of their sales, with the understanding that if someone does come along who is able to pay the desired rent they have x amount of time to vacate.

over and over. A barber, a bakery or other small business that has been there for years suddenly has their rent doubled or tripled and forced out of business. The storefront then remains vacant for years. Why? Isn’t the landlord losing money? No. They are getting a tax write off at the higher rent for having a vacant property.

Like the write off has to be based on the last amount of rent that was actually paid for the property and not the 3 or 4x amount a few nearby locations might get or maybe just get rid of them completely. I'm not sure how you can really say that X amount is the market rate when there are so many vacant storefronts and only a handful of retailers can pay that rate.

Empty buildings and low rent makes them multiply all over. I had a antique store in a small SE Michigan town. Was doing ok until my rent went from $250/monty to $1,500/month and had to close. 3 others in the town had to also. That store front changed business about every year or two until a bar moved in.

I was walking in town yesterday and at least 40% of the Main St storefronts were empty.

strip malls, without a way to prove they are wanted/needed so we just keep having more and more stores move in for a few months and then the rest of the strip mall will be empty, but the builders get huge tax breaks to keep building new stuff, and don't have to take on any of the financial burden to fill the stores. It's all a scam around here.

A local dollar store that had only recently rehabbed and moved into a former thrift store closed suddenly when the building's owner unexpectedly raised the rent. This in a depressed town that has trouble selling or renting buildings and has many empty storefronts on main street.

The Barnes and Noble closed in the strip center due to a rent hike buy the developer. The store front has remained vacant for a good 5 years now. No it may not have survived much longer with the shifting sands underlying the Retail Sector and the book business, but rent was a big factor in the decision to close. The same center is losing Pier One, across the street Lowe’s has closed along with K-Mart, O’Charleys, Arby’s and a Shop n Save (Super Valu). Granted the were many factors in play, but that is a whole lot of Retail gone within 6 months.