ALEXANDRIA, Va.—So-called dark stores are increasing in major U.S. cities, and many are located in retail storefronts on main streets, but because they do not serve the public and only act as a hub for delivery service companies, they are affecting the communities where they are located, reports WIRED.

WIRED says there is a fear that because dark stores are technically occupied but functionally empty, they begin having the same impacts on a community that vacant real estate has. When there are multiple empty storefronts on a street, fewer people walk there, resulting in few connections between neighbors.

“Having people out on the street increases public safety, because more people see things that are happening,” Noel Hidalgo, executive director of BetaNYC, a civic design and data firm, told Wired. “That level of social engagement makes cities safer and makes places safer.” WIRED reports that neighborhoods with high numbers of vacant storefronts see increased crime rates, fire risks and rodent activity.

A professor of architecture and design at Alfred State College who cowrote a paper on dark stores, told WIRED that many of the grocery stores that are going dark “seem to disproportionately affect lower-income neighborhoods.” (This observation applies more to existing grocery stores going dark than to the quick-delivery startups moving in.)

Replacing a public-facing grocery store, especially in lower-income areas, with a delivery-only one could exacerbate problems of food access, added Bitterman. People who pay for their groceries with food stamps are typically not able to use them on online grocery orders, and they may not have smartphone access or afford the delivery fee.

Dark stores also could impact small, neighborhood businesses. New York bodega owners are concerned that “tech companies will replace the corner stores that double as thriving community centers with impersonal apps,” according to WIRED.

Vice reports that New York City council member Christopher Marte, who represents District 1 in lower Manhattan, is in the “very preliminary stages” of introducing legislation that would “address the labor concerns with these companies, as well as their impact on New York's beloved bodegas.”

“With the impact of the pandemic, as well as rising rents, bodegas are already facing many financial hurdles,” Marte said. “Now these VC-backed delivery apps are offering lower prices (because they aren't looking to make a profit for 5-10 years) and door-to-door delivery. They also take up valuable storefront space while offering no sense of community to the neighborhood, unlike bodegas.”

Vice says that digital convenience store GoPuff is attempting to prove its storefronts are not warehouses to avoid regulatory scrutiny by saying some of its New York locations will also serve walk-in customers, though these “retail” locations are unmanned and have no prices listed on items.

There are at least six quick-delivery startups now operating in New York, and collectively they have opened more than 110 dark stores across all five boroughs, according to BetaNYC data shared with WIRED.

Established delivery companies want to get in on the rising popularity of ultra-fast delivery and are testing it out. DoorDash announced 10- to 15-minute deliveries to customers from DashMart, a warehouse in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood that will stock more than 2,000 grocery items, household goods and prepared foods.

Quick last-mile services started in Berlin, and their rise is threatening the German convenience store. Delivery service exploded during the pandemic in Berlin, greater Europe and the U.S. Gorillas started making deliveries in Berlin in May 2020, and many rapid-fast delivery services have popped up in the city since then, and these companies are “delivering a blow to Berlin’s infrastructure, street life, labor front and social landscape,” reports the New York Times.

(NACS Convenience Summit Europe will be in Berlin May 31 to June 2, and summit goers will get to see firsthand the city’s convenience stores and new format shops.)

Tune in to the Convenience Matters episode “Berlin’s Thriving Convenience Retail Future” to hear more about what is happening in the Berlin market, including technology innovations surrounding tobacco products and shrinkage, how Germany is dealing with its own labor shortage issue and hydroponic farming inside stores.