Real talk on how the hell this works for the Non-Americans going âhow are this many empty stores available???â The US is full of capitalist ruins.
Yes, occasionally Spirit Halloween ends up in small empty spaces in a downtown if the stars align just right. But overwhelmingly the end up in strip malls or freestanding big box stores. You HAVE to drive to them. Nobody lives within walking distance.
Freestanding big box stores are built entirely to order and are meant to be replaced semi-frequently. Itâs cheaper to just build a newer, bigger one at another location while promising the local government âso much economic growth!!!â that they cut them a deal on the property taxes for X number of years⌠and the megachain meanwhile knows exactly when that term is up and is already hunting for a new location to start the process anew.
These buildings are so shoddily constructed and so purpose built theyâre almost unusable by anyone except the original builder. To the point where some big box retailers have challenged the assessment of the building while its in use and generating $30 million in profit to have it valued based on resale value as if it was empty and abandoned.. AND HAVE WON.
HOW CAN IT GET WORSE?!?! Many of these properties also have deed restriction on them. That specifies if sold, they canât be to a competing retailer. So if it was a big box department store, it may specify that it canât be sold to anyone that sells competing merchandise⌠so basically everything from lawnmowers to food to clothing. what the hell can you put in there?
So the resale value of the building is zero, Which when you go to make the assessment⌠well I guess no taxes are owed.
And these deed restriction generally last decades. There ARE good reasons for deed restrictions like that. Theyâre usually used for agricultural land so it specifies it has to stay agricultural OR for industrial land with contamination issues. You donât want someone to sell a lead smelter to a shell company and then have them sell it to someone to turn into residential housing. Itâs just taken a very, very specific form here.
So you have thousands of these abandoned structures all around the US that are just slowly rotting and are unsaleable. They might also be being used to show financial âlossesâ to reduce taxable income more.Â
Spirit sweeps in and is âhey, wanna extract a bit more money without in any way disrupting this cycle?â and rents the building for two months and does not give a damn about what terrible repair it is in. They wonât be using it next year. There will be a thousand newly abandoned store to inhabit next year!
The US is littered with building corpses and once a year, necromancy brings them back to life to sell us more things!