Repurposing Sears and other retail sites

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Kira

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A Sears near us (Paramus) closed and is becoming a Stew Leonard's. SL is a food store which started in Connecticut in the late '70's IIRC.
Given the size of the store I wouldn't be surprised if "seasonal lifestyle articles" like grills, picnic tables or Sun umbrellas are sold there.

ANY repurposed store footage near you?

ADDENDUM: This Sears had an Auto Center which was left intact. It's being used as the site office.
I hope the new management sees fit to open "Do It Yourself" bays but I'm not holding my breath.
 
We only have a Sears home town store and it does pretty good on appliances and lawn equipment etc …
 
The older stand alone store has been abandoned since I was a teen (15 years ago or so) and is literally falling apart. That shopping center has been dead for a while now anyways, so it's no surprise. The one that was in the mall has a different store in it now, I just can't recall. The Auto Center has been repurposed into a chain bar/grille restaurant (yet again I can't remember the name of it, and we just had something from there for our quarterly work meal, dang I'm loosing it at only 29, lol). I doubt the place will be there, food is meh.

The nearest Sears that is still open has only appliances, lawn and garden, etc. I've yet to be in there.
 
There's a Sears Hometown Store in town, but not much of anyone goes there. They don't have much selection, just a few appliances and some crapsman mowers. You can do better on appliances at a local appliance store, and if you want crapsman mower quality just go to Rural King and get one of the other MTD clones.
 
More than once I've seen a big Sears in a "there goes the neighborhood" mall … crime and drug lords set in … and the last thing open is the police station put in hoping to save the mall …
 
hhgregg went belly up here a couple years ago. It has just been replaced by a Sprouts organic and natural food store. It just opened a week ago. Nice addition to the area. We have a Sears across the street from it that is dead. Hardly anyone ever goes there. It has to be costing them more in utilities and overhead than they are making. I don't know why they just don't shutter it. Pretty sad.
 
Kmart building in Leavenworth, KS has been repurposed into a U Haul rental and storage place.

The Sears store was torn down since it was part of the Leavenworth mall. This small mall is completely gone, except for the Ace hardware store.
 
I would think that retail space is soft due to inter-net shopping. MA is loaded with 1/2 empty malls. Hydroponic farms supplying vedgies to mkts and restaurants?
 
That Sears used to be a Sterns also! I remember going there with my mom. And with the laws/rules/regulations/insurance in Bergen county, I highly highly, highly doubt itll be a DIY. Some chain will buy it for its location. Cant wait for Stews, I love the one near my house in Clifton.
 
An old Kohls store in Columbus, OH is now the Franklin County Board of Elections headquarters/early voting center.


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There were two Sears. One closest to me is now a U Haul center and Home Depot.


Other one was at the mall. Only 3 stores in mall now that Sears left and became Rural King. The Sears auto center across from mall is now bus company used to shuttle SHELL cracker plant 4 miles from my place
 
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A big question I ask myself is, Will Developers ever build another Mall anywhere ?

I think a common solution is to convert the big empty stores into a mixed use / small retail, office, housing.

Things change over time:
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Growing up in the 60's, we had a large shopping Plaza.
It was nice with stores on each side of you with steps as you walked along (cold in the Winter)

Years latter, the Plaza was covered and turned into a Mall

Years later, the Mall was torn down and turned into a Home Depot and Wal Mart

Years later, Wal Mart moved down the street (into a building that was vacant)
Wal Marts first location was divided into smaller use stores
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We have another Mall that was turned into all Office space
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And another Mall that was torn down and is still a vacant lot.
 
Nope. Thrifty building has been empty for 20+ years. Old Walmart one for about 10.A brand new lowes that was only open a couple of years sits empty. The kmart and osh buildings are also empty and unused. Starting to look like a 3 rd world country here.
 
Malls are changing into lifestyle centers. A mix of retail, condo and apartments plus the addition of healthcare and fitness facilities.

The Sears in the city mall near me was torn down as they will transform the mall into one of these centers. Another Sears closer by in another mall sits empty as they try to decide what to do with it.

The fallacy of Sears real estate is coming to fruition. Most Sears stores at malls were on the end. This is not the prime location for a mall setting, the middle is.
 
there were actually two sears stores and one kmart near me...the k mart is now an aldi food store and one of the sears store is a peeples clothing store . the other sears store still sits empty
 
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