You own rental homes, not gun stores or high risk sporting events where accidents happen frequently.

Only because High Point is the Furniture capital of the US and buyers come to this small town 2x\year and pay higher than normal rents to be close to Furniture market.  

The short answer is that yes, certain categories of retail such as apparel, consumer electronics and department stores, which are vulnerable to eCommerce, have been hit harder than others.  

Again, the BiggerPockets store has some books for this or you can learn by watching podcasts, reading blogs, and interacting on the forum.

I got 2 yr old appliances cheap. storing them in my garage.

Also, I recommend finding a good real estate investment calculator (just search in the app store). 

The local grocery store used to be nice and clean, not they have armed security and shoplifters nearly every time I go, with vagrants hanging outside the front doors. 

Any advice on what are the key rooms in the house to stage or key furniture pieces to have (curtains, etc)?

I don't see any start up costs for furniture in there. 

We are furnishing it with nice-ish furniture (West Elm and CB2.)