A dark store is a location the tenant has vacated while continuing to pay rent under the lease.
A dark store keeps paying rent, so the investor's income may continue, but the property is not generating sales for the tenant, which can signal weakness. It also creates risk at lease end, since a vacant building must be re-leased or sold. Some leases allow the tenant to go dark, while others prohibit it with a continuous operation clause. Buyers should check this clause and look at the tenant's overall store performance and credit before assuming that rent will continue.