Definition

Noun 1. Physical building materials: Refers literally to the combination of bricks and the mortar used to bind them together in construction. 2. Physical buildings or property: Used to denote physical business premises, such as stores or offices, as opposed to online or virtual operations. 3. Traditional, tangible business model: Represents a conventional business that operates from a physical location.

Usage Examples

• Literal building materials:
  • The old wall was constructed from simple bricks and mortar.
• Physical business premises:
  • Their retail strategy relies heavily on bricks and mortar, with over 100 stores nationwide.
  • Many traditional banks are reducing their bricks and mortar in favor of online services.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in the phrase "bricks-and-mortar business/store/bank" to explicitly contrast with e-commerce or digital-only entities.
  • The rise of e-commerce has challenged many bricks-and-mortar retailers.

Variants and Related Words

• Brick-and-mortar (adjective): The hyphenated form used attributively.
  • The company is a brick-and-mortar institution.

Synonyms

• Physical premises
• Storefront
• Traditional retail

Related Idioms/Phrases

• While not a phrasal verb, the term itself functions as a common idiom meaning physical commercial presence. It is frequently used in the contrast "bricks and mortar vs. clicks" (or "bricks vs. clicks"), where "clicks" represents online business.
  • The future of commerce isn't a choice between bricks and mortar and clicks; it's a blend of both.

Noun

1. building material consisting of bricks laid with mortar between them