Another Reason Why Mega-Sized Retail Stores Are Bad For The U.S. Economy
"Although big-box stores may appear to have an ephemeral, disposable quality, these structures rarely just go away. They exert power over our communities long after the companies that built them have turned off the lights. Integrating these unwieldy structures into the commercial or civic life of our cities and towns requires ingenuity, but as the retail landscape of America continues to change, it is also becoming increasingly imperative." - Julia Christensen, Big Box Reuse, MIT Press.
Before we reach summer 2009, several major retail stores will shutter the doors on many of their huge, over-sized, mini-strip mall locations. Circuit City will be one of those stores. I just had a breathlessly mindless good time snatching up bargains at a closing Circuit City store in North Carolina. The entire first season of Damages for $8!!! Yes! As I left the store skipping and smiling with several hundred dollars of CDs, DVDs, and other knickknacks for a grand total of $52.80, I had a minor passing thought about how this gigantic closed up Circuit City building was going to become a ugly-ass eyesore in the middle of this newly developed strip mall and what in the hell are they going to put in it's place? It was a fleeting thought as I returned to skipping to my car with my goodies.
Many of us already have the abandoned eyesore of a closed Toys R Us, Walmart, Home Depot, Kmart, Lowes, or Target dominating an entire square block. People get all excited when these monstrous mega-stores get built, but never consider what happens to giant endless boxes when they go out of business. Artist Julia Christensen takes a wonderful look at what some communities have decided to do with the abandoned big boxes. What do you think?
