I hate driving around town and seeing empty buildings. In South Carolina, (and probably in other states as well) when a grocery store wants to expand, they build a new store instead of adding on to their existing one. This usually means that when they move to the bigger store, they leave the other building empty.
And it stays empty. Over time, it is vandalized, and ends up looking horrible. The same is true for all the small businesses downtown that have closed over the years. Right now, the town I live in is trying to "revitalize" downtown, but all the money they are putting into making downtown beautiful is wasted if the businesses can not stay open. It's actually pretty sad watching shops that have been open for decades have to shut down. Maybe if more people bought things that are Made in America, these mom and pop stores would stand a chance.
I was reading about how Rambler's Way is trying to help revitalize America's small towns. One of the things they have done is buy an old building that was built in 1792 and restored it to it's original condition, while also updating it to make it the home of their companies corporate offices. They also source, grow, and produce their fine woolen apparel using 100% domestic resources. Their fabric is amazingly soft, too. (I know this because a couple of months ago I requested a sample from their website. You can, too.)
Try and imagine how many less empty buildings there would be if every company bought an old building (like a supermarket) and updated it for their own use.
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