"Your typical store has about 100 items of loose produce," he said.

And many more titles can be made available online than in a typical retail store.

"A typical store in a mall costs $300,000 to open and leases run a minimum of several years," he said.

Sales are about $725 a square foot, with the typical store having 1,500 square feet.

I quietly went online, where the selection of eyeglasses is much greater than at a typical store.

China Nepstar's typical store carries approximately 1,800 to 2,350 different products.

A typical store features a drive-thru with a speaker box and most of the employees are young teenage workers.

Now, through Bluelight.com, the kiosks display 250,000 product variations, compared with 60,000 in a typical store.

By some estimates, an on-line grocer must do 10 times the volume of a typical store to be successful.

Late last year, Home Depot agreed to take 110,000 square feet of space, slightly more than its typical suburban store.