I tackle the plague of stores closing their doors and what can be done about it. (Once again, not my headline; “shuttered stores” are already beyond help…)

Now that tent cities are out of fashion — or at least consigned to unfashionable places like Sacramento — the surest sign of hard times is shuttered stores. There are the glaring examples, like the Union Square building that chose as its anchor tenants Virgin Megastore and Circuit City (whoops!), but the rows of rolled-down gates are visible in every neighborhood: Entire blogs are now devoted to chronicling the devastation, and wondering where to turn for their free-WiFi fix… [read more]