The United States has revitalized and closed the space of department stores, transforming them into affordable small rental houses.

Major department stores such as Macy’s and JC Penny in the United States are becoming increasingly scarce and closing down one after another. A few months ago, Macy’s announced that it would close 150 'inefficient' stores within three years, hoping to regain its momentum after a bleak 2024. This year, it has already prepared to close 66 department stores and stores, including popular locations such as New York City and Los Angeles.

American large shopping malls are no longer popular among customers due to many factors, including changes in shopping and consumption patterns after the epidemic, many people directly shopping online, security crises with frequent robbery cases, losses from customers taking advantage of opportunities, inability to hire employees, high rent and other multiple reasons.

Real estate developers are eyeing these "developed" projects and transforming them into new projects, including building new homes on vacant land next to shopping centers and revitalizing old department store spaces to boost confidence in real estate investment. This article introduces a CNBC interview video to see how Americans are transforming abandoned department store spaces into housing.

The ruins of the revitalized department store have become a mixed-use shared space for living and business.

According to Investment Property Exchange Services data, up to 68% of Americans' nearby department stores have been abandoned. Many large department stores have become deserted ruins, and now real estate developers have found a new way to solve the problem of vacant houses by transforming the vacant department store spaces into small rental units. On the one hand, this can solve the issue of vacant houses and fully utilize the existing space. On the other hand, it can address the problem of high rent, providing various affordable rental options for single individuals with low to medium incomes.

Real estate developers are revitalizing large department store shopping centers and parking lots to develop residential properties, allowing people to live in department stores. As of January 2022, at least 192 abandoned shopping mall projects are planned to be developed into residential projects within and next to department stores, including California, Colorado, Florida, Arizona, and Texas, which will not only help alleviate the housing shortage in the United States, but also make it more convenient for people to shop, dine, and relax at the same time.

What does it feel like to live in a department store?

Department stores divide vacant spaces into smaller rooms to attract tenants. People who usually enjoy shopping at department stores should be happy to live in a mall, where they can walk around and see new products every day. CNBC reporters visited the Flatiron Crossing shopping center development project in Colorado and the Arcade shopping center project in Providence, Rhode Island, to understand the experience of living in a shopping mall. Tenants said that living in a department store is a great experience. They can go to the hair salon or attend author lectures at the bookstore. The rooms do not have stoves, but there are coffee shops and snack bars in the mall for meals. Tenants living on the upper floors of the mall can pull down the blinds if they prefer privacy. Another advantage of living in a mall is that it is close to the crowd, so single people won't feel lonely and can enjoy the lively atmosphere.

Now many real estate investors see opportunities and invest in real estate projects inside department stores, which can be rented for investment or used for Airbnb. There are many abandoned buildings in Taiwan, which can refer to the practices in the United States to provide more affordable rental housing for the general public, and even more environmentally friendly, using already developed land and space, without having to wait too long to move in.

This article appears on the ChainNews ABMedia, US revitalizing closed department store shopping mall spaces into affordable small rental housing.