The price differential between corporate chain grocery stores and big box stores reminds me of that between convenience stores and said grocery stores.
I'm wondering if a big box store went completely delivery-only (close all stores) with a minimum order of say $300, would profits go up or down. I'm wondering if it would be possible to guesstimate P&L close enough in each scenario to find the overall more likely capital-efficient business model.
Sometimes the law of unintended consequences works in a positive manner :)