Theory on physical location signal

I am wondering if Google has a physical location signal. Has anyone done any testing with setting up a physical location at a UPS shop or something and then getting accredited by BBB and other sources which indicate a brick and mortar shop as well as displaying address on your main website. Trying to find an edge in my niche and I notice a majority of the heavy hitters at least have a physical location listed on their site. Of course correlation is not causation. Anyone ever messed with this or can point to studies/tests on this?

Note my niche does not rely on local seo, just wondering if it COULD be a general ranking factor for google serps.

Local and global search are different. I'm not a local expert, but I can tell you for global that what you mention won't matter.

I guess the black hat approach would be to toss up any address and google map and see if it matters to them as a trust signal...

My other Theory. People click and stay longer on the website because they have a physical address. Google likes it, and gives a boost in SERPs. But if you can let your visitors stay longer in your website, then google may do the same for you