Five retailers that are investing billions in their stores

By the end of this year, Target will have remodeled some 300 of its 1,800 stores, with a goal of upgrading 1,100 stores by the end of 2020, reports CNBC. The retailer will have spent $250 million on fixing up 28 stores in Minnesota this year, having spent $220 million doing the same to 28 Texas stores last year.

Walmart is adding 20 stores and revamping 500 existing ones, improving lighting in grocery departments, widening aisles and investing in delivery services. Tiffany is spending $250 million on its New York City flagship alone, which accounts for 10 percent of its total sales, CNBC reports. That project is slated to begin in January and to run through most of 2021.

Discount grocery chain Aldi is spending $5.3 billion over five years to open 800 stores and to remodel existing ones.

Home-furnishings chain RH is spending some $50 million on a new store in New York City, complete with rooftop café. This is the first of several such stores the retailer (formerly Restoration Hardware) is planning in urban areas.

Online retailers are following the same strategy, as evidenced by Amazon.com’s acquisition of Whole Foods and its growing Go convenience-store chain.

"Brick-and-mortar retailers need to give consumers a reason to visit stores instead of making online purchases, and, to that end, an increasing number of companies have started investing in stores," said Hong Kong–based Coresight Research analyst Albert Chan in a research note cited by CNBC. "We expect an increase in retailers' capital expenditures to remodel stores as the competition to attract store traffic intensifies against the backdrop of increasing penetration of e-commerce."