How Do You Repurpose A Big Box Lowe's Home Improvement Store?
In 2018 Lowe's Companies, Inc. closed 20 of its U.S. Big Box retail stores.
It was a rare mass closure event for Lowe’s - though it impacted just 1% of the Company’s 1,700+ U.S. stores.
As for the real estate vacated by Lowe’s?
It did not stay empty for long.
These 100,000+ square foot former Lowe's stores have virtually all been repurposed.
With most no longer used for conventional retail.
These "non-retail" adaptive reuses of former Lowe's stores include a casino, a school, a self-storage facility, an auto dealership, a truck collision center and more.
One reason that most of these former Lowe’s stores no longer have a retail use?
The fact that Lowe's owned most of the sites.
This meant that Lowe’s could decide the new use for much of the real estate.
It also ensured that no former Lowe's would be taken over by competitors like Home Depot, Menards, 84 Lumber or Ace Hardware.
Of course it helped that the real estate was versatile and suitable for many uses.
The former Lowe’s stores — though very large at over 1000,000 square feet — were modern, solidly built and well-located with high ceilings and an open floor plan.
Most stores are situated on large land parcels with parking, access and signage — all features that support many types of uses.
Including for the adaptive reuse examples described below.
Parx Casino - Shippensburg, PA
In February 2023 Parx Casino opened a “satellite” casino in a former Lowe's store in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
This Parx Casino has 500+ slot machines, 48 electronic table positions, sports betting kiosks, and a 100 seat restaurant and sports bar.
Although Parx initially is using (only) 73,000 square feet of the 140,000 square foot former Lowe's building, it is already working on plans to expand the casino and utilize the remainder of the property.
College of Lake County Advanced Technology Center (ATC) - Gurnee, IL
The former Lowe's in Gurnee, IL was repurposed into 170,000 square foot Advanced Technology Center (ATC) in Gurnee, Illinois.
This facility houses leading-edge equipment and training programs that support a high-tech, high wage manufacturing workforce in Lake County, IL.
It has a showcase central atrium that connects two lab areas:
A 27,000 square foot welding and fabrication lab for students to learn welding techniques and process and a 12,000 square foot industrial technology area stocked with over $5 million of machinery and designed for students to learn how to install, operate and repair manufacturing equipment.
The College of Lake County is now working on future phases of the ATC, including the buildout of an additional 85,000 square feet for manufacturing education.
Devon Self Storage - Florissant, MO
The acquirers of the former Lowe's in Florissant, Missouri needed to first secure a zoning ordinance change to allow for a non-hardware store use at the site.
That move was critical since the original zoning granted by the municipality for development of the Lowe's store only permitted a hardware store use on the premises.
And Lowe's planned to record a deed restriction at sale that would prohibit a future home improvement store use at the site.
Once the zoning was modified, the new owners closed on the purchase of the former Lowe's building.
They proceeded to redevelop it into a 100,000 square foot self storage facility.
Unique Classic Cars - Mankato, MN
The former Lowe's in Mankato, Minnesota is now home to Unique Classic Cars, an auto dealership that buys, sells, trades and consigns classic cars and specialty vehicles.
Unique stocks 150+ classic vehicles and muscle cars in a museum-like showroom in the 140,000 square foot former Lowe’s Big Box building.
It also has a service department that can complete everything from basic oil changes to the full restoration of classic vehicles.
Truckworx Body Shop - Graysville, AL
The 110,000 square foot former Lowe’s in Graysville, Alabama was transformed into a body shop and collision center for Truckworx, a Kenworth-affiliated truck dealer.
The facility — which is the largest commercial body shop in the state of Alabama — also includes a parts department, service area, fueling station and truck rental center.
The body shop occupies nearly three quarters of the space and features three state-of-the-art paint booths — including one that is the biggest paint booth in the Southeast U.S. with man lifts to facilitate the painting of large trucks and trailers.
Other adaptive re-uses of former Lowe's stores include:
A NorthGate packaging and processing warehouse in Michigan;
An Amazon delivery station in Connecticut; and
A Vega Transport truck terminal in Illinois.
Although Lowe's owned most of the real estate that it closed in 2018, a few of the stores were under long-term lease.
Which meant that Lowe's was obligated to pay rent for these sites whether or not it operated a store — including a store that it closed in Irving, Texas.
Instead of subleasing the space or buying out the lease, Lowe's instead opened an outlet store where it sells slightly damaged or discontinued merchandise at a discount.
Lowe’s expanded its outlet store concept and now operates approximately 15 outlet stores throughout the country.
In recent years Lowe’s has returned to opening new stores — it added eight in 2023 — rather than closing them.
So there may not be many future opportunities to backfill, redevelop or complete an adaptive reuse of a former Lowe’s store.
But if Lowe’s ever reverses course and elects to close several of its Big Box stores, the rapid pace at which its 2018 closures were repurposed demonstrates that this real estate would not likely stay vacant long.
Even if its new use is no longer for conventional retail.