The city of Charlotte has maintained a strong retail market, with smaller spaces proving to be especially competitive within the sector over the last year.

Charlotte ranked first among the top 43 U.S. retail markets with at least 100M SF of inventory in asking rent growth and overall investment performance, according to a recent CoStar report.

Brandon Svec, national director of retail analytics at CoStar Group, noted that several fundamentals combined in Charlotte’s retail rise.

“After coming in sixth place last year, Charlotte’s rise to the top was predicated on demographic tailwinds, a diversified economy, and a disciplined supply pipeline,” Svec said in a statement.

Retail rent growth in Charlotte averaged 7.4% last year, according to CoStar. Over the past 10 years, the city’s retail rents have increased 57%, compared to just 34% nationwide. 

Retail vacancy in Charlotte was just 2.9% in Q3 2025, marking three consecutive years below 3%, according to an Oct. 2025 Colliers report. 

The rumors of retail’s demise in the city turned out to be greatly exaggerated, said Clay Grubb, CEO of Grubb Properties.

“Retail had 10 brutal years, with everybody saying retail was dead,” Grubb said, speaking at the Bisnow Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Market Kickoff on Jan. 15. “But ever since coming out of Covid, the consumer has been very strong, and so the retail sector has been very strong.”

Smaller spaces were especially competitive for retail tenants, with vacancy in buildings under 10K SF at only 1.77%, Colliers reported. 

Converting the first floors of office buildings into spaces for retail tenants has proven to be a successful strategy in Charlotte, Grubb noted.

“They’re paying real rent and changing the images of office buildings, making the retail sector much healthier than we’ve seen in 15 years,” he said at the Bisnow event last week at the Union at West Station.

When e-commerce and online ordering started gaining traction, some said this would mean the end of in-person shopping, putting brick-and-mortar stores at risk. And when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, fears emerged that physical retail was doomed.

None of that has happened. Physical retail is stronger than ever, with shoppers indicating a preference for in-person versus online shopping. But retail has had to adapt, and according to a JLL article, “Prepare Yourself for the Future of Retail,” that adaptation will continue.

So, what is retail’s future? As part of its Future Vision program, JLL conducted interviews, held workshops and spearheaded brainstorming sessions to consider what might happen. The result of all this included the following.

A Pickup in Drone Deliveries

Walmart is experimenting with autonomous technologies by using drones to deliver products to consumers within a 10-mile radius of stores. The retailer plans drone delivery to 75% of the regional residents. Meanwhile, Starship Technologies’ autonomous robots have made over six million deliveries in the United States, United Kingdom, Finland, and Estonia.

But this is just a start. “Consumers of the future could make fewer trips to the store, as intelligent robots take on many of their shopping duties,” the JLL article said. The technology is already in place, as smart refrigerators track food inventory and generate shopping lists for needed items.

Shopping Merges Digital, Physical and Hybrid

Consumers will continue to visit physical stores for experiences. The JLL article said that this could be augmented by technological actions like shoppers trying on clothes virtually through mobile devices and VR headsets. Though such applications are still in the early days, “retailers may want to engage technology providers today to develop relationships for the future,” the article advised.

More Accurate Site Selection

Most retailers depend on putting their physical stores in the right location. But deciding where that location is consists of guesswork along with data. The JLL article foresees the advent of more sophisticated forecasting tools, which means “retailers will be able to make more accurate site selection decisions and avoid unnecessary store closures.”

Additionally, new AI tools could make it easier to tailor store designs to the communities in which these stores are based. “By combining data around shopper lifestyles, walking habits, psychographic profiles and more, retailers may become big data scientists, able to adapt offerings to meet consumer needs,” the article said.