New York With video stores and retailers closing their doors, retail real estate has had a tough half-decade. The cure? Urgent care clinics.

The clinics, storefronts staffed with doctors to treat common ailments or minor injuries, are filling vacancies left by struggling retailers like RadioShack and Best Buy as they close locations. Theyre moving into those street and shopping center fronts at their fastest pace ever, according to Scott Mason, managing director of Cushman & Wakefields health care group.

In 2014 there was an increase in retail medicine in all of its different dimensions, Mason said in a telephone interview. You look for retail outlets with high visibility, high traffic patterns, and signage capabilities. That approach, Mason said, is referred to as the Blockbuster strategy.

The number of walk-in retail clinics in the U.S. has risen 20 percent since 2009, to 9,400 last year, according to the Urgent Care Association of America. Operators also see new demand for convenient health care services as more than 10 million people are insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In the Upper Valley, New London-based ClearChoiceMD opened a clinic on the Miracle Mile in Lebanon, in the former Rent One storefront, in November. Primary care physicians are overworked and there is a shortage of them that is not going away anytime soon, ClearChoiceMD owner Dr. Marcus Hampers, of Plainfield, told the Valley News. We believe we are filling a real important niche and are pleased to be a part of the solution. ClearChoiceMD also operates clinics in Belmont, Portsmouth and Keene, N.H., Berlin, St. Albans, Rutland and Brattleboro, Vt., and Scarborough, Maine.

In addition, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and CVS Caremark have opened several retail walk-in clinics around New Hampshire, including one in West Lebanon. These MinuteClinics offer similar same-day health services, including diagnosis and treatment of illnesses and minor wounds, although their services are generally seen as less comprehensive than those offered at an urgent care clinic.

Medical tenants pay higher rents, come with good credit, and tend to sign longer leases, said Dave Henry, chief executive officer of Kimco Realty in New Hyde Park, N.Y. So far this year his company has signed 40 medical leases, an increase from the 34 in 2013 and 27 in 2012. For us as a large landlord of lots of shopping centers, its nice, he said.

For customers, the clinics fill a gap. Patients who cant get a last-minute appointment with their doctor or dont have one can turn to urgent care instead of overcrowded hospital emergency rooms.

When Kelly Daviss son woke up days before Christmas with a fever and vomiting, the pediatricians office was closed and the child didnt seem sick enough for the emergency room. Instead, Davis went to a clinic.

It seemed more effective than going to an ER, Davis, 33, of Baton Rouge, La., said in a phone interview. We just needed to make sure it wasnt going to get worse before Christmas. Instead of heading to the ER on Christmas we decided to go to an urgent care real quick.

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Health Care Clinics Fill Vacant Storefronts