RoadsideOnline

This comes to us by way of the Buffalo News thanks to a tip by Doug Smith. Apparently, even when Walmart destroys, it doesn't always follow through on its plans to fill the void it leaves. Perhaps this is a mixed blessing, but now the folks in the Niagara region have neither a great roadside attraction nor a soul-crushing place to buy fodder for the landfill.

Bruce Andriatch: Overbuilding is leaving us with eyesores

Pat Bannister fought so hard to prevent Walgreens from building a store in Kenmore that even after the store was built, he vowed to never go in there.

Then one day, he needed to make a purchase, and the store was so close, and . . .

“I broke down,” he said.

But he never became a fixture at the store on Delaware Avenue. Really, no one did. The store wasn’t there long enough.

In most ways, that now-vacant drugstore is no different from the hundreds of empty buildings that dot the landscape across Western New York. But it is a stark reminder that for all their certainty about how great a project will be, developers are no better at predicting the future than anyone else.

That point was reinforced most recently in Evans, where officials were prepared to welcome Walmart to the community. The nation’s largest retailer wanted to build on the site of the former Grandview Drive-In Theater.

Click here to read more...

Just when you thought the "Great Recession" might have finally snapped us out of our consumptionist insanity comes word that yet another treasured piece of our culture will become a big box store. This story comes from the Chicago Tribune.

Kiddieland's property in Melrose Park may become the site of a new Costco store, a company official confirmed today, addressing weeks of speculation over the fate of the popular former amusement park land.

"Yes, we have interest, but there is nothing finalized," said Dick DiCerchio, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer for Costco, which currently has 13 warehouse-style membership clubs in the Chicago area.

DiCerchio added that plans for the Melrose Park location could evaporate if the company's CEO, Jim Sinegal, decided not to pursue the site.

Melrose Park Mayor Ron Serpico said the company has not approached the village with a formal proposal.

"Maybe they're getting a little closer... but if they've inked a deal, I have not talked to anybody," said Serpico. "Ultimately they'll have to come to us, of course, but maybe the heavy lifting right now is getting price and terms."

Kiddieland, at the corner of First and North Avenues, closed its doors after 81 years last month after a dispute between the faction of the family that operated the amusement park and the other that owned the land. Popular rides from the park will be sold in an auction Nov. 24, as Kiddieland operators have been ordered to vacate the property by the end of the year.

Original story and comments here.