Detroit-area landlords are finding creative ways to re-use empty big boxes. “Brick-and-mortar is not going away, it’s just reinventing itself,” said Frank Monaghan, president of Monaghan & Co., a local commercial retail brokerage, speaking to the Detroit Free Press.

Newer businesses, such as AirTime Trampoline & Game Park, Aqua-Tots Swim Schools and Crunch Fitness are expanding in the area, and they are willing to take some or all of the leftover space. “With construction costs the way they are, it is definitely an economic advantage to take secondhand space,” Brian Tomina, owner of six Aqua-Tots franchises in suburban Detroit, told the newspaper. Of Tomina’s six units, one took over a former Ace Hardware, a second inhabits a former Trader Joe’s, and a third is inside a former Applebee’s.

Nonretail users are taking the stores that aren’t suitable for retail use, observers say. “There are [businesses] to backfill the majority of these boxes, if you can get the use permit,” said Ron Goldstone, senior vice president at Southfield, Mich.–based NAI Farbman. “There’s at least 100, 150 opportunities in Michigan in the next 24 months where you could be smart and get them reoccupied.”