Shopping Mall Owners Fill Empty Stores With Offices As Coworking Companies Branch Out

Empty since 2016, the former Barney’s at Scottsdale Fashion Square mall in Arizona is finally getting a new tenant, and it isn’t exactly selling shoes. In Scottsdale and elsewhere across America, stores left vacant by retailers, including now-bankrupt Toys R Us and Bon-Ton, are being converted into shared office space. Mall owners are increasingly turning to unconventional tenants to fill some of the estimated 200 million square feet of retail space that’s closed or is expected to close since the beginning of 2017. Malls in particular are under pressure when they are handed back much larger locations from department store operators like Sears, J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Hudson’s Bay, since there are few retailers, if any, still growing at that same size and scale. Read more at CNBC.