Pickleball courts are taking over empty mall spaces, big-box stores

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The retail apocalypse left dead malls and shuttered big-box stores scattered across the US — now, pickleball is coming to the rescue

and, more recently, dedicated pickleball facilities.

One such facility, The Picklr, operates six venues in Utah and Colorado. Jorge Barragan, The Picklr's CEO, told Insider that he's planning to open 25 more locations this year and 150 in the next three years via a franchise model. The Picklr's prime real estate target? Former big-box stores. "We all have 'em in our neighborhoods, we have those eyesores that you drive by and say, 'ah, I wish something would go there,'" Barragan said."There's not too many people raising their hand and saying, 'hey, I'm willing to take 25 to 40,000 square feet.'" by chains like Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, and Party City as an opportunity and hopes to work directly with liquidators to snap up some of the empty spaces.

Of course, it's not always easy transforming a former bedding and bath emporium into a sports complex. Barragan said that there's often asbestos under the floor tiles, the bathrooms are outdated and, frankly,"pretty gross," and the buildings from the 1980s and '90s often have drop ceilings, which usually means the sprinkler systems are too low and need to be raised up. Plus, the type of overhead fluorescent lighting common in department stores isn't ideal for pickleball — it can be so bright that the ball is almost impossible to see when it's flying toward you.

 

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