How many empty "box box" stores are there in the Valley right now?

The EVT has the sobering statistics.

The paper says the East Valley has a vacany rate significantly higher than the rest of the area—almost 15 percent, versus just over 12 percent vacancy overall.

And about those “big box” stores:

The Valley has 305 empty big-box stores, defined as spaces with at least 10,000 square feet. That’s up from 299 at the end of March, according to CB Richard Ellis. Vacancies have been on the rise for 13 quarters in a row.

The shakeout will be permanent, according to the analysts the paper talked to:

Shoppers shouldn’t expect to see stores in those old buildings again, said Bill Jabjiniak, Mesa’s economic development director.

“I think that there’s a significant amount that has to be changed,” he said. “It’s not just the recession. We were seeing empty big boxes before that.”

Some places will have non-traditional uses like churches, charter schools or medical malls in existing buildings. Others will have to be razed for another use.