As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, empty buildings are piling up.
As the recession takes its toll on big-box retailers, empty buildings are piling up.
Many are trying to find creative uses for those near windowless monoliths. In Minnesota, one became a Spam Museum. In Texas, an indoor go-cart track. In Illinois, a church moved into an empty Wal-Mart. The new tenants, however, often generate less revenue for local governments. AP
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Even in non-recession times there are a lot of ghost boxes. I grew up in a Philly suburb and have been stuck here for the past year. It's amazing and frustrating the stripmall turnover. Endless space, so they are constantly abandoning one strip mall for the next. Heckinger closes down leaving a shell behind so that down the street Home Depot and Lowes open up. Half empty mall, but there is a new shopping center around the corner. Across the river there is a city (Reading) with so much potential: small scale, walkable, trees, old buildings. But the crime rate is so high, there is no way to get people to leave the comfort of urban sprawl and stripmall heaven and invest in the city. Unfortunately, we don't have any interesting uses for the old boxes.
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