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For Sale: 200,000-Square-Foot BoxWhat happens to the store when Wal-Mart leaves town?

By Julia ChristensenPosted Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, at 7:06 AM ET

Click here to lauch a slide show on big-box reuse.Big-box buildings are the large, free-standing, warehouselike structures that have become dominant in the American landscape, constructed by one-stop-shopping retailers, grocers, and category-killers. Hundreds of new big-box buildings are built each year—and hundreds are vacated. In a healthy economy, retailers often leave behind one store to build an even bigger one nearby. In tough times, weaker chains are forced to close stores. Circuit City recently announced it will close 155 stores before the holiday season. What happens to big-box buildings when a retailer abandons them?

The big-box aesthetic does not immediately lend itself to any other use. The buildings are often upward of 150,000 square feet. There simply aren't many enterprises that need that much space, and because the buildings are built for a single-use purpose, it's not so easy to break them up into smaller units. Yet all over the country, resourceful communities are finding ways to reuse these buildings, turning them into flea markets, museums, schools—even churches.

Click here to read a slide-show essay on how to recycle a big-box store.

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Julia Christensen is the author of Big Box Reuse. She is the Luce visiting assistant professor of the emerging arts at Oberlin College and Conservatory.
COMMENTS

Ranson says:

I currently work in a reclaimed Wal-Mart that was repurposed as a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The local government loved the idea of actually filling the space, and we've been successful enough that we've already had to add on to the old store structure after only two years. If you can find a use, these places are great to work with.

MaryAnn responds:

A few decades ago, old and abandoned elementary schools across the country were turned into affordable housing for seniors. The same can be done with big-box structures. Just knock out the middle portion and turn it into an interior courtyard. Design the apartments to surround the courtyard, making sure to include large sliding doors that lead onto the courtyard.

And speaking of seniors, how about turning a big box into a senior center? Or turning another one (or the other half of the first one) into a recreation center for all those suburban and small-town teenagers who are always complaining that they have nothing to do, nowhere to go.

If abandoned factories and warehouses can be turned into trendy artists' lofts, so can renovated big-box structures. Just make sure you provide some space for studios and some space for living quarters.

A few creative folks who took up the challenge from the Washington Post to re-purpose a local abandoned big box even suggested a really huge greenhouse to grow organic food.

The possibilities are endless.

(11/19)

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