Dead Stores

I ran across a link today showing empty store after empty store. Dead stores. It is a compilation of photos of stores no longer functioning. It really hit home for me. I'm in small town Canada and I don't see the tons of for sale/foreclosure signs. I just can't imagine whole giant stores or malls sitting there, abandoned.

From there I found deadmalls.com which has a huge giant list of malls across US and Canada which are empty or nearly. sadness.

And that lead me to think of all the other empty things; houses, schools, churches, factories.

The only realistic frame of reference I have are the small towns that dot the prairies, which slowly, house by house, become a shell of their former selves. THAT makes me sad.