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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 neighborhood’s 1 . But rents there are softening, and the number of 2 storefronts is rising.

 Today, some of the most 3 real estate by retailers is not in SoHo, but five miles away in Red Hook, a gritty Brooklyn enclave with a shipbuilding past. E-commerce merchants are 4 to lease part of a huge warehouse space, spanning 11 acres, that would allow them to deliver goods the same day they’re ordered online. 

The profound reordering of New York’s shopping scene 5 a broad restructuring in the American retail industry.

 E-commerce players, led by the industry giant Amazon, have made it so easy and fast for people to shop online that traditional retailers, shackled by fading real estate and a culture of selling in stores, are struggling to 6 . This shift 7 gradually for years. But economists, retail workers and real estate investors say it appears that it has 8 in recent months.

 The current torrent of closures comes as consumer confidence is 9 and unemployment is low, suggesting that a permanent restructuring is underway, rather than a dip in the normal business cycle. In short, traditional retail may never recover. 

The reordering should come as no surprise to anyone who has enjoyed the instant 10 of receiving that book or garden hose within 24 hours of ordering it. Or to anyone who has encountered the tired-looking mannequins and haggard sales associates at many department stores.