TheAssociatedPress --
Community college classes in the old mall movie theater. A DMV office across from the Starbucks. Maybe a local library between the Victoria's Secret and the Gap.
Mall and strip center owners are turning to untried and untraditional tenants to brighten dark storefronts as the sluggish economy sends more retailers to bankruptcy or forces others to scale back their expansion plans.
Retail vacancies nationwide hover around 10 percent, according to ReStore, the retail division of commercial real estate services firm NAI Global, and could reach 12 percent or more by end of the year. Similarly, Property including AnnTaylor Stores Corp., Talbots Inc. and Pacific Sunwear Of California Inc. have already closed hundreds of stores this year....