The number of retail spaces in a built object is the total quantity of distinct spaces within that object which are designated or used as publicly accessible commercial establishments. These include stores, restaurants, service branches, and commercial services of various kinds. Retail spaces can also house usages not normally regarded as retail, such as day care facilities, recruitment offices, information centers, branch libraries, and many other varieties of occupants.

Both occupied and vacant retail spaces should be counted toward this number.

Retail spaces do not include service areas which blend into other usage areas of the same object, for example a banking service area in the same bank's office building (although a retail bank branch in another building would usually count as a retail space). These also do not include freestanding kiosks set up within a structure or module which cannot be described as unitary divisions of that object.