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The Macy's store in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City. [Bob Joseph/WNBF News][/caption]While we seem to be getting some new restaurants in the Binghamton area, there are still plenty of empty storefronts that need to be filled. Recently we saw the closing of KMart in Binghamton and the closing of Macy's in the Oakdale Mall. We dodged the bullet with Gander Mountain and JC Penney.

Many of the new additions, mostly restaurants, have been built from scratch rather than going into an existing building. I assume that's because they require a certain kind of design, but the need to fill many area empty storefronts continues to be an issue.

My question is, what could take over these empty buildings? Could you put a grocery store in the old KMart? I think one may be going into the old Big Lots building across the street, so that idea wouldn't work. The space is kind of big for a restaurant, so maybe office space would be best for that building.

What would you like to see fill the Macy's store in the Oakdale Mall? That's two stories of space to fill, so it could be a tough sell, unless maybe it's split up. The problem there would be no access to the rest of the mall from the ground level without some major construction I would think. I'm not an architect, so anything's possible.

I get a lot of comments from people wanting a Golden Corral to come to town, but I don't think that would be a good fit for either the Macy's or Kmart space. Laugh if you will, but for me, I'd like to see a Waffle House come to the Binghamton area. The possibilities of Waffle House hash browns are endless. Just sayin.

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