It is a cliché by now to say that what the malls did to the Mom-and-Pops, the commercial Web is doing to the malls. The more interesting story is how each can find sustained utility or even rebirth here in their close-of-empire afterlives. I once had an idea – deemed “almost good” by some smarter and more practical minds than mine – that a forward-looking company could develop and sell turnkey repurposing plans to the owners of vacated big-box stores, those inevitable eyesores of our futurescape. They would sell templates for next-phase viability when a big brand fails, like Circuit City. The company would design and implement big-box retrofits, with minimal customization, for different post-retail applications like storage, light manufacturing, “mini-mall” retail complexes, office space, mushroom labs, rehearsal studios, iPhone charging farms…I dunno. Go ahead: You can have the idea.