Thinking inside the big box: Seven brilliant uses for abandoned chain stores [SLIDESHOW]

Some look at the abandoned big box stores littering the American landscape and see senseless blight -- and others see an opportunity to create something new. Here are some examples of the latter.

Finding a use for 40,000 to 200,000 square feet of space is one of the biggest challenges of reusing box stores, says Christensen. Here, the community of Lebanon, Mo., turned an old Kmart into a county library, cafe, and Route 66 museum. *Julia Christensen, Big Box Reuse, MIT Press*

There are two kinds of people: Those who look at abandoned big box stores littering the American landscape and see senseless blight — and those who see an opportunity to create something new. Here are some examples of the latter, many of them from Julia Christensen’s book, Big Box Reuse.

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