Is American retail at a historic tipping point?

New York

ALONG the cobblestone streets of SoHo, Chanel handbags and Arc'teryx jackets are displayed in shops like museum pieces, harking back to the height of the neighbourhood's trendiness. But rents there are softening, and the number of vacant storefronts is rising.

Today, some of the most sought-after real estate by retailers is not in SoHo, but five miles (eight kilometres) away in Red Hook, a gritty Brooklyn enclave with a shipbuilding past. E-commerce merchants are vying to lease part of a brick warehouse, spanning 11 acres (4.5 hectares), that would allow them to deliver goods the same day they're ordered online.

The profound reordering of New York'…