What would you do with an empty department store?

How would you fill such a store if money was no object? Why would you do it that way?

There was a question asked in our local media about what should be done with the department stores which are closing now that the oldest chain is closing most of the stores they had in shopping centres. The one in the city will remain. Another in a very big centre some distance to the north will remain. The rest will be vacant and there will be space to fill.

The answers people came up with were interesting. The vast majority of them suggested filling the space with a similar arrangement. One person wanted a hardware store but there are nearby hardware stores. Another wanted a "mini" version of the infamous Swedish store.  

There was one person who suggested turning the area into "flats" or "units". Their concern was housing people. It is a concern of mine too but I do not think it would work. This is a shopping area. The rest of it closes at night.

I very rarely comment on items but I did comment on this one because I could see something which would be good to have. It is unlikely to happen. I am not sure it would actually make a lot of money but it may save some money in other ways.

What if we had a place which was given over to toys, games, puzzles, paint, paper, pens, pencils, fabric, yarn, musical instruments, books (especially craft and other activities)? What if we had a place where people could go to learn about a hobby, buy the materials and perhaps attend an occasional workshop? Would it work? Would parents and grandparents take their children and grandchildren there at the beginning of the long summer holidays and say, "We are going to get something you can do, do instead of looking at a screen."? What if the basement had a simple gardening area where you could find out how to first grow things in pots? What if there was an area with cookbooks and implements and lessons suitable for children and teenagers?

And we would need a whole floor devoted to books.  

It won't happen of course. I am not even sure those spaces will be filled with mini-shops. We have changed the way we shop. I am guilty of buying things on line. It is much less effort for me than getting the trike on two trains to get to the big shopping centre - and then two trains back again. If what I want is there on the screen and often delivered "free" or at the same price as a shop then I am afraid I will do it. 

Is that a good thing? Probably not.