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Sprawling throughout the country in every nook and cranny are giant box stores like Target, Best Buy, Walmart, etc.  But in the current economic climat what happens to communities when those box stores go under and corporations are unwilling or unable to replace them?  It’s a valid question because those stores average about 150,000 sq. ft. – to cavernous for anything other than a box store, yet their single-use layout makes it difficult to break them up into a multi-use function.

Over at Slate, Julia Christensen has a slideshow demonstrating ways that communities have taken back these extinct eyesoars. Everyone always talks about how great it is when Wal-Mart comes to town but what happens to the town when Wal-Mart leaves?  “All over the country, resourceful communities are finding ways to reuse these buildings, turning them into flea markets, museums, schools—even churches,” Christensen writes.

Oh, that photo above?  It’s from the renovated Spam Museum in Austin, Minn.  You can purchase her book, Big Box Reuse at major booksellers.