I agree that we really need more micro-storefront spaces, but just for some perspective: 1500 sf is quite reasonable for a storefront and about as small as most restaurants can operate in. This is what roughly 13-1500sf looks like.
My dad’s 50-seat restaurant was about 2100 sf. Half of that was back of house kitchen space, bathrooms, etc. Unless you do mostly take-out or are a small coffee shop/bakery, it’s hard to operate in much less than that. If you don’t have space to seat enough customers, you won’t have enough cashflow.