Even though I only go to stores that I planned to go to ahead of time, this switch is great because it means things are closer together and there is roughly the same amount of walking as driving to multiple stores and needing to walk from the lot into each one. Plus the view is better!

There's a spot not far from my house that's right across a little pedestrian bridge. The shops are lined up along a walking path and face a small park. They do enormous amounts of business, particularly in the evenings when kids are out playing and adults can simply walk across the street to grab dinner or visit the sports bar.

Jane Jacobs wrote about this pretty extensively in "Death and life of great American cities" back in like the 1960s, if anyone hasn't read that.

...and won't be able to park, because...well, cars.