Their business model hasn't been superseded. Amazon is free-riding on the stores' display of physical goods. If the shoppers don't value being able to view, handle or browse the physical goods, why are they in the store? So they value having the store there but don't want to pay for it.
Maybe Amazon's plan is to drive these stores out of business and then open its own display stores where people can go to inspect merchandise before ordering it online.
Maybe Amazon's plan is to drive these stores out of business and then open its own display stores where people can go to inspect merchandise before ordering it online.