The Sample Road Flea Market is one example of great use of a space that would typically house a KMart or similar.
You can't blame Amazon for brick and mortars going out of business. Walmart had the market for years, taking over huge parcels of land near ma-and-pa shops, putting them all out of business. Our country is paying for that now. I don't shop at Walmart, partially because of that, partly because of the treatment of their employees, partly because of a complete lack of customer service (it's not bad, it's simply non-existent). When Walmart announced their interest in a nearby town, I was one of the people protesting it. That town, once a thriving high-middle and upper class town, is nothing like it used to be, with small shops having closed completely, boutiques dead, and the property values dropped significantly, bringing into it lower expectations.
It was the choice of shoppers that these things happened. Amazon would not have done so well, if shoppers rejected online purchases. Convenience is convenient, but it doesn't build communities. In fact, it apparently shatters them, as we are seeing now.
I'd love to see some of these closed large department stores turned into a Sample Road Flea Market type deal. Not a mall, but not a singular store either. A place where people can buy and sell new things, hand-made things, antique things, craftwork and fine art, get reasonably priced fresh LOCAL produce (or at the very least, grown in Florida), maybe get a hot knish and a gourmet pickle right out of the barrel for lunch in the center somewhere. The kind of place where most of the booths are rented by the year, but there's a few spaces available for short-term folks who only want to sell things for a season. All in an air conditioned space with tons of parking.
As for malls, a few of you mentioned that all the stores have switched over to malls. News flash for those of you who never venture beyond your own village and don't ever read anything other than your own developer's newsrag: malls are also going out of business. Entire malls, and all the stores in them. Wikipedia even has a page dedicated to them and references the Centre of Tallahassee as one of them.
If you want to see boutiques, antique shops, little ma and pa stores, bodegas, luncheonettes, and other locally-derived shopping experiences, you'll have to start by patronizing the ones still in existence. Stop buying your wrench from Amazon, if there's a hardware store nearby. Sure, it'll cost you an extra buck but it's not like you'll need to buy wrenches every month. Put some food in your neighbor's mouth and sacrifice an extra 10 minutes of your life, in exchange for the thriving of community commerce.
Buy e-books online, sure, why not! But if you're looking for a hard-cover book that was published in the 1970's, get offline, and get your butt to an antique book store or the public library.
BE the customers that these shops exist to serve, and the shops will return.
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