How Communities are Re-Using the Big Box When a "big box" retailer moves into town, its arrival is either hailed as a boon to the local economy or decried as the death knell of the mom-and-pop store. But what happens when the superstore moves on, abandoning its huge warehouse-like structure? Across America, folks are putting those big buildings to some creative uses. In Austin, Minnesota, home to Hormel Foods, an abandoned Kmart sees new life as the Spam Museum. A former supermarket in New York is recycled as a church and an abandoned Texas Wal-Mart becomes an indoor raceway. And in the midst of a Nebraskan cornfield, another old Kmart serves the community as a HeadStart Family Resource center. Some may see the empty big box as a threat to local economic stability, but others see the potential for revitalizing a community. (in Social Science)
