>The tenants of a 4-6 story structure can't support those shops.
In the polish version of these, the stores are in one building of the cluster of 4+ buildings, generally on the main street of the area. The US has a retail store for every 500 people or so which is about how many fit into a few of these buildings..
>Such places are not usually convenient to drive to.
You don't drive to them, you take whatever local public transportation there is or walk. It's dense enough that you can visit all the important stores without driving or leaving your local area.
>Many shops are vacant.
That has more to do with the increasing rents and commercial rates being locked in for 5+ years. More economical to keep the place vacant for the landlord.
Do you have data for that? Having visited a number of countries in Europe, Japan and the US I've found roughly the same number of retail stores (at least in terms of area). The US tends to have fewer but larger stores in my experience. For example, Google indicates that Germany alone has almost as many grocery stores as the US despite being a fraction of the population.
In the polish version of these, the stores are in one building of the cluster of 4+ buildings, generally on the main street of the area. The US has a retail store for every 500 people or so which is about how many fit into a few of these buildings..
>Such places are not usually convenient to drive to.
You don't drive to them, you take whatever local public transportation there is or walk. It's dense enough that you can visit all the important stores without driving or leaving your local area.
>Many shops are vacant.
That has more to do with the increasing rents and commercial rates being locked in for 5+ years. More economical to keep the place vacant for the landlord.