What took the place of former big-box stores?

[golden eagle]

The Comcast building on I-55 in Jackson used to be a K-Mart Supercenter. After K-Mart closed in the early 2000s, it sat empty until Comcast opened in 2010.

There's a former Home Depot in south Jackson that is still shuttered. At one time, it was rumored that Magic Johnson was going to put a movie theater there, but it never came to fruition.

We're also awaiting the fate of the current Sam's Club in north Jackson. It was confirmed last year that they're moving into a new building in suburban Madison. The former mayor of Jackson, in his State of the City address last year, said he contacted and sent marketing materials to Costco to come in to replace Sam's. But he was defeated in his re-election bid, and I don't know if the current mayor will continue to pursue Costco or not.

[bugo]

There's an old Walmart at 71st and Riverside in Tulsa that is now some brand of church.

[Big John]

A former Circuit City building in Green Bay is now a WisDOT field office for the US 41 expansion project.

[Jardine]

The Omaha 120th and L Street Sams Club was re-purposed as an auto dealership with a VERY large amount of inventory stored/displayed inside.  Seems to be working quite well for them.

[txstateends]

There's been a lot of 'repurposing' going on around north TX in recent years.  Many chains have left, others downsized, still others moved.

Gone:  CompUSA, Linens & Things, Circuit City, Winn-Dixie, Kmart, Borders, Home Depot Expo, Roomstore, The Great Indoors (not to mention department store chains gone)

Downsized/fewer stores:  Barnes & Noble, ToysRUs, Best Buy, Conn's

Moved:  some Barnes & Noble, some Sam's, some Michael's, some Bed Bath & Beyond

Wow, I could go on and on, but I guess we don't have all day, but you can only imagine the amount of transactions just the list above would have created.  Anyway, here's a few:

* ToysRUs in north Dallas on US 75, now a Spec's (fast-growing TX liquor store chain, some, like this one, are an amazing size for a liquor store)
* The Great Indoors in Farmers Branch near the Galleria, now a portion is a Sears Outlet, the other part they're trying to lease out but have had no takers yet
* One Circuit City store in north Dallas was in 3 buildings before the chain folded; the first later was a Michael's but is now an Entertainmart; the second is now a Dick's Sporting Goods, the third is now a Best Buy (for now)
* A Winn-Dixie on Frankford in far north Dallas, is now split into 2 spaces, a 99-cent Only store, and an Aldi
* Home Depot Expo on the Tollway in north Dallas, is now split into 3 spaces, a moved Bed Bath & Beyond, a Buy Buy Baby, and initially a Christmas Tree Shop but now it's a Nordstrom Rack
* Circuit City on US 75 in north Dallas, is now a clinic/surgery center specializing in spinal issues (it's between 2 major hospitals)
* A Linens & Things on US 75 in north Dallas, is now a Total Wine & More (another fast-growing liquor store chain, they're from the east coast (MD?))
* A Borders east of US 75 in Dallas, was torn down and an LA Fitness was built on its old site
* A Borders west of US 75 near downtown, was split into 3 things, 2 restaurants took up the first floor, and a yoga studio moved in on the second floor

OK, you get the drift, wow I'm thirsty

[Desert Man]

I remember the first local Wal-marts in the Palm Springs area (Cathedral City and La Quinta) in the 1990s moved to newer "SuperCenter" stores in the mid 2000s (the Cathedral City store went to Palm Springs). They became Kohl's stores and they're not as productive like Wal-Mart was.

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets are opening in my area: one in a former Toys R' Us in Palm Desert and in the former Albertson's in Coachella. Wal-Mart wants to expand in the grocery niche and compete against Ralph's (I happen to work with them) and other major grocery chains.

In Indio, Ralph's was in two sites: the first site became a major furniture store and the second site remains vacant after Ralph's bought (Skagg's) Alpha-Beta in the 90s, was moved to a new location in the mid 2000s. The former Palm Desert North Ralph's became an Albertson's which moved across the street to a new plaza and the old site became a Bristol Farms. And in Cathedral City, Ralph's shut down a few years ago and the building remains empty ever since.

And in my town Indio, CA: Lucky's closed and still vacant, Super-Saver become a Cardenas' a regional Mexican-themed grocery chain store, the former Sears in the fashion mall remains vacant, a Gottschalks went out of business nearby is still empty, and the JCpenney's is now a Food-4-Less which is owned by Kroger also owner of Ralph's.

[Road Hog]

Wal-Mart is notorious for abandoning a store to build in a location it thinks it can generate more business. All the surrounding businesses get left high and dry when the old store closes.

[formulanone]

Wal-Mart is notorious for abandoning a store to build in a location it thinks it can generate more business. All the surrounding businesses get left high and dry when the old store closes.

I've noticed that a lot of the recently-built Wal-Marts are no longer in multi-bay shopping plazas, but in bespoke architecture that (typically) only features their store. Many of them have absolutely nothing else on their property, while others might have the typical repertoire of cell phone stores, fast food, cleaners, et cetera surrounding the edges of their ginormous parking lot.

In Pompano Beach, Florida a Mercedes-Benz dealer used a former Sam's Club location for their operations. I can't tell the difference, and I've been through the site before and after. In the same plaza, the old Circuit City became a Land Rover dealer. It's unusual for high-end marques to do this sort of thing, but it's all about the location off I-95.

[bing101]

Well in Vallejo, CA during the 2008 Bankruptcy/ Real Estate crash the Mervyns on Sonoma Blvd(CA-29) @ Sereno Drive was closed and abandoned until 2013 when Wal-Mart Moved back to Vallejo. Wal-Mart was out of Vallejo (Sonoma BLVD/ CA_29 Expressway @ Meadows drive 1990's Location)  for a few Years and moved to CA-29 Expressway in American Canyon in Napa Valley.

Also in Fairfield, CA Mervyns was converted to Forever 21 and the Sports Authority at the Solano Mall.

[bing101]

Circuit City in Fairfield, CA was converted into a Go-Kart place and K-mart in Fairfield CA became abandoned. So did Big lots in the same area.

K-Mart in Vallejo was demolished in 2003-2004 (Redwood @ Sonoma)

[Takumi]

Colonial Heights, VA has two former Circuit City stores. The first location was abandoned when the second was built; it's now a Gold's Gym. The second is an HHGregg. There's also a former Nichols department store that's mostly unused but has a few small places carved into it.

Petersburg, VA has two former K-Marts that are no longer retail. One is a church and I can't remember if the other one is being used for anything.

[jeffandnicole]

In a few towns near me:

A Hechingers closed down, built a bigger store across the street.  Best Buy moved in.  That Hechingers closed when the company shut down.  It became a Target.

An old, old shopping center that housed a supermarket, Ames (a large department store) and state offices was torn down after years of decay, and is now a Walmart.

A Pathmark became a Rickels, then an appliance store, then closed.  The Caldors in the shopping center closed.  That shopping center was almost 100% knocked down, and is now a very busy LA Fitness and medical offices.

My first place of employment - a bowling alley - is now a Planet Fitness.  (Note: the LA Fitness & this Planet Fitness are about 1/2 mile away from each other.  Both appear to be doing very well, judging by their parking lots).

[Zeffy]

There used to be a big KMart right here, decently popular too, until it closed down not too long ago:



Now all that remains is just the building. No one has bought it out yet.

Also in Hillsborough, a BlockBuster shut down about 3-6 years ago, and a Hollywood Video closed down shortly there-after (I would blame Netflix, honestly).

In neighboring Bridgewater, a Circuit City closed down 4-6 years ago, presumably because Best Buy was getting more business than them.

[Pete from Boston]

Julia Christensen has made a project of this:

http://www.bigboxreuse.com/

There's a nice accompanying book from the MIT Press:

http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/big-box-reuse

[tchafe1978]

In Platteville, WI, the old Walmart building was vacant for about 6 years after the new Supercenter was built, until Farm & Fleet moved from their old run-down building south of town. They remodeled the building nicely and added on their auto service center, but I can still walk through the store and remember where things used to be when it was still Walmart. The old Farm &  Fleet building is now used as a warehouse for an agricultural supply and feed business.

[CentralCAroadgeek]

In Gilroy, CA, the old Walmart next to the outlet mall has been converted into a giant showroom for RV sales.

[kurumi]

In my area:
* CompUSA => Korean food court and mini-mall. We go there more frequently now than before
* Mervyns (like a low-end Macys) => split into TJ Maxx/HomeGoods/Party City
* Petsmart => Spirit Halloween (2 months/year); vacant (10 months)

What's interesting are the obscure shopping centers that long before my time obviously hosted some anchor stores, but time and trends passed them by.

[golden eagle]

Also in Hillsborough, a BlockBuster shut down about 3-6 years ago, and a Hollywood Video closed down shortly there-after (I would blame Netflix, honestly).

There was a Hollywood Video store down the street from me, but it became a laundromat.

[jeffandnicole]

In neighboring Bridgewater, a Circuit City closed down 4-6 years ago, presumably because Best Buy was getting more business than them.

All Circuit City locations are closed.  They were a good store, but then made some very, very stupid decisions (replacing full timers that knew their stuff with part timers who didn't care was one reason).

Best Buy ain't doing all that well either now.

[catch22]

Westland, Michigan -- A building that housed a Circuit City and a Cost Plus is being converted into Westland's new city hall.

[Brian556]

Denton, TX:
Old K-Mart: Torn down, new retail built on former site about 9 years later
Old Home Depot: Torn down, replaced with apartments and Taco Bell. Home Depot Moved to LOOP 288 commercial area.
Old Wal-Mart- now Hobby Lobby
Old Kroger, now a gym.
Old Target: became Circuit City for a very short time until the chain shut down; now a Conn's Appliances

Flower Mound, TX:
old Albertson's, now a busy church.

Lewisville, TX:
old Wal-Mart: Might be empty. A few stores occupied it for a period of time after Wal-Mart moved out
old Target: Target moved out after less than 10 years to a larger location in the same area, became a sporting goods store and a dollar store.

[nexus73]

In my area a Safeway became a BiMart while an Albertson's became a Big Lots.  Still to be seen is what happens to the now closed K-Mart and a largish lot with building that had the Nissan dealer.  The only constant is change...LOL!

Rick

[signalman]

Best Buy ain't doing all that well either now.

Glad to hear it.  I'd love to see that chain fail.  I've gone in there a few times, and every experience I've had with them I wished I'd shopped elsewhere.  Unhelpful and unknowledgeable employees that would rather talk among themselves or play with their phones than serve customers.  I've even seen a few employees who moved quickly in the opposite direction once they saw a customer who was looking for help from an employee.

[DaBigE]

In neighboring Bridgewater, a Circuit City closed down 4-6 years ago, presumably because Best Buy was getting more business than them.

All Circuit City locations are closed.  They were a good store, but then made some very, very stupid decisions (replacing full timers that knew their stuff with part timers who didn't care was one reason).

Best Buy ain't doing all that well either now.

[rant] I must have gone to Circuit Citys in the wrong locations...employees talked to customers like they were complete morons (although some truly are) and would swarm on you like a used car salesman the second you walk in the door (similar to experiences at Sears and Best Buy). I didn't shed any tears when they closed up. Won't shed any if/when Sears and Best Buy go. Can't remember the last time I bought anything at Best Buy...great place to go look at stuff in person before you buy it just about anyplace else much cheaper. Don't go looking to get any questions answered; you can't find anyone when you need 'em and if you are able to corner one, they're clueless about anything other than what level of CandyCrush they're on. Sears, the employees are about as useless as their Best Buy counterparts, but far more rude. [/rant]

Back on topic:
Prange Way -> split: Staples and Hobby Lobby, Oshkosh, WI
Kmart -> Home Depot (now also closed as well), Fond du Lac, WI
Toys R Us -> split: PetSmart and Dollar Tree, Fond du Lac, WI
Prange Way -> Sears, Fond du Lac, WI
Kmart -> Sears Grand -> split: Sendiks grocery store and two smaller stores, West Bend, WI
Sentry foods -> Hobby Lobby, West Bend, WI
Children's Palace -> Dunham's Sports, Brown Deer, WI
Walmart -> JCPenny, Beaver Dam, WI
Kmart (NE) -> Hyvee grocery, Madison, WI
Kmart (W) -> Burlington Coat Factory, Madison, WI
Circuit City -> Pawn America, Madison, WI
Borders -> UW Credit Union, Madison/Shorewood Hills, WI
Pick n Save and Walmart (both demolished) -> Walmart supercenter, Sun Prairie, WI
Kmart (demolished) -> Walmart supercenter, Monona, WI

[jbnv]

I attempted to submit some locations that I know of to the bigboxreuse.com site, but my email bounced.