Empty Bank Branches Add to Retail Woes

The Wall Street Journal reports that retail landlords now get to deal with the fallout of major bank branch closures. It seemed not too long ago that other retailers were complaining that they couldn’t afford leases in prime areas because banks were willing to pay so much more.Well, that’s not really the case nowadays. One bank, Washington Mutual, which was getting more prominent in some areas than Starbucks, has closed about 400 units since its merger with JPMorgan Chase. Bank of America is shaving back 10% of its 6,000 units. Even worse, it sounds like these empty spaces aren’t very adaptable to other uses. Says Colliers’ Patrick Duffy to the Journal: “banks have a somewhat unique footprint that doesn’t work for many retailers.”Great! Well, we guess there are always drugstores and discounters out there that can take up the space. Hope they need drive-thrus…