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All across the country as big-box retailers, and many smaller ones, close their doors for good, they are leaving behind their empty store buildings and the building owners are having a really hard time trying to fill the empty walls.

Stores like the Home Depot in Bismark, North Dakota have left very little room for new potential buyers due to the very customized warehouse style building meant for the retailer.

So as more stores close their doors, many residents are having do deal with giant empty shells of what used to be stores, which are an eyesore, as well as the lost jobs and tax revenue.

Some buyers are finding ways to make the buildings usable. If you look at one in Minnesota, it became a Spam Museum, another in Texas, a indoor go-cart track. In Mississippi, an old Wal-Mart became a church. While less tax revenue is generated from the stores, at least there is some kind of tax benefit to be had as well as the fact that the building isn’t just sitting empty in the city.

The worst offenders are the big-box retailers that have gone into bankruptcy like Circuit City and Linens-N-Things. These retailers often had pretty large stores, and the look of Circuit City stores were often very customized for their company.

Some of the empty buildings have been converted for other uses, but some future tenants can be limited by the retail chain that once owned the building. Former retailers can sign leases that can keep competitors from moving into the building and are willing to pay for an empty building for longer than necessary.

“We are handing in excess of 2,000 locations for some 50-odd retailers, said Michael Burden, a principal with Excess Space Retail. “The square footage is in the tens of millions.”

Home Depot, for example, closed 15 underperforming stores last year, and 41 its smaller home improvement brands, including Expo Design Centers and YardBIRDS.

“The goal is to sell or lease the property as quickly as possible,” said Ron DeFeo, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based Home Depot. “The last thing we want is to see an empty store in a community — it’s a difficult enough decision to close a store in the community.”

In Frankfort, Ky., an empty Home Depot is adjacent to a sign welcoming visitors to the city.

Focusing on the positive, Phil Kerrick, economic development director for the city and Franklin County, says, “It’s a great building, in good shape and in a good location.”

Frankfort, Kentucky’s capital city, has dealt with vacant big box space before, when Lowe’s Cos. moved into a bigger box in town. The building was converted to a state office building.

As a sign of the times, in my city, an old Goody’s Family Clothing store was converted into a Goodwill drop off and retail location.

Jeremy

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