When Big-Box Stores Fail, Buildings Become Burdens

What happens to all the ugly big-box store buildings when they go out of business?

By Jason Knott 07.14.2008 — What happens to all the real estate previously used by companies like Tweeter and CompUSA?

A new exhibition in Pittsburgh's Miller Gallery called "Your Town, Inc." examines the challenges faced by communities as they grapple with what to do with the homogenous architecture of modern-day superstores after the companies have gone out of business. Sometimes, it ain't pretty. Sometimes, it is. The photo gallery at the exhibit shows how communities are affected by monolithic super-stores when they are built and then abandoned. It features the work of researcher and author Julia Christensen in a selection of

photographs from her upcoming book "Big Box Reuse." The exhibition will also show the architectural construction "UnBox," a building that is earth and community-friendly and is made mostly of regional fallen lumber, posing an alternative to the "big boxes" of big business. In a recent review of Christensen's book, I.D. Magazine states: "Tirelessly crisscrossing the nation, documenting resourceful and unexpected examples of reused big boxes, open-mindedly listening to the tales of schoolteachers, curators, preachers, or assorted activists, finding something interesting in the most deadened-seeming mall strips, taking hilariously deadpan photos -- Julia Christensen is a true suburban-exploration hero. "The exhibition will feature 80 photographs from the forthcoming book, which examines how communities are changing in the shadow of corporate real estate. My grandfather used to own a chain of grocery stores. After he sold out in 1960, I watched one by one over the years as the buildings became auto parts shops, clothing stores, five-and-dime trading posts, etc. Just up the street from our office, an old CompUSA store still sits empty with a "For Lease" sign planted on the window. A Tweeter store near my home still sits empty. The classic is a "Vons" supermarket that went out of business years ago in Hollywood, only to re-open as "Rons." The new owner only had to replace one letter on the giant sign out front."Your Town, Inc." explores a modern architectural phenomenon that is relevant to the thousands of communities, towns and cities dramatically impacted by multi-national corporations and corporate architectural practices. The exhibition runs from August 29th through November 22nd at the Miller Gallery on the Carnegie Mellon University campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What have some the empty big-box stores become in your area?