You are reiterating that you do not have any evidence or factual reasoning indicating that your theory is correct. Your questioning of what multiple people have told you is interesting, but until you bring an alternative theory which is convincing to those people, it is ultimately irrelevant, because it is
your theory being defended here.
> If you think this is not the case, cool! Argue that!
This is literally your role here. You are disputing what multiple people have told you. If you think that the 'other value' is enough to keep stores open, then argue that (with numbers, obviously: this is HN, not reddit). If you think that stores aren't adapting, and that's why they're failing, and if they do X they would succeeded, then argue that, and describe X (with numbers, obviously: this is HN, not reddit).
We all know that a store provides more value than a warehouse. But is said extra value able to economically sustain properly-managed stores? The evidence (store closings) points to "mostly no". Your theory says "yes", (and perhaps that the store closings are actually a result of not doing X). Your theory is thus explicitly numbers-based. So how do you expect anyone to argue against the numbers in your theory when you haven't provided any?
As it stands now, your hypothesis is on equal footing, in terms of evidence, with "they didn't pray to the right god enough", and equally unconvincing. This is HN, not reddit: let's hear the specifics, not make random unconvincing claims and insist that proving or disproving them is someone else's job.
I'll get you started on your job of convincing someone other than yourself that your theory holds water, by providing an example with which you can proceed: Let's say we have an "all the XR glasses" store that lets visitors try on different XR glasses and see what fits, and the visitors then later buy them from Amazon because the glasses are cheaper there.
Ok, now your turn: go. How do they stay alive? If you can come up with something feasible and convincing, I might even start this store and give you a cut! :)