re owners are now looking beyond shopping to bring people through the doors, and commercial property services and investment firm, CBRE, is particularly enthusiastic about the growing role of recreation. “These activations mark the next evolution for regional shopping centres, transforming them into true community hubs that encourage longer visits, attract broader audiences and blur the lines between retail, recreation and lifestyle,” said Kate Bailey, its head of retail research. Some former retail buildings have taken that evolution further, becoming places to study, receive medical care or borrow a book. These four conversions, completed or underway, show how spaces built for shopping can accommodate a new kind of working day. Myer got a library card  At Westfield Knox in Melbourne, Myer closed in 2021 after 44 years, driven by growing online sales and nearby Myer stores. The closure subsequently created space for a $355 million redevelopment. Opened in March 2024, the $5.4 million library occupies about 2,000 sqm on Level 3, twice the size of its former home. Then-mayor Lisa Cooper explained the appeal in 2021. “These are places everyone goes”. Supermarkets, retail,  parking and books now share a customer’s day. “Westfield Knox will be a destination that people visit for recreation and community connection,” Scentre Group’s then-director of development Stewart White said in 2023. Debenhams becomes a university  In Gloucester, England, students now turn up for lectures in the old Debenhams, a business that can trace its history back to 1889. The University of Gloucestershire bought the 20,000sqm building in 2021 after the chain’s collapse. It converted it into City Campus, home to education, psychology and social work courses, an NHS-linked arts, health and wellbeing centre and a public library. The university also worked with Gloucestershire Archives to collect photographs, objects and memories from people who shopped at and worked for Debenhams and the historic Bon Marché business.  Sears New York found its footing Near Rochester, New York, a trip to the old Sears site might now involve a joint checkup. Marketplace Mall was about 30 per cent vacant when owner Wilmorite sold the former department store property to the University of Rochester’s medical centre. The US$227 million Orthopaedics and Physical Performance Center combined the converted store with new construction and officially opened its surgery centre in February 2023. With eight operating rooms and 144 examination rooms, it gave patients and healthcare workers a reason to visit during the working week. One patient, Therese Zona, told the university, “The parking was easy, and the building was immaculate”. Quantum of solace The most ambitious afterlife for a mall would be in Los Angeles. One of the city’s largest universities, the University of California, Los Angeles or “UCLA”, bought the former luxury haven, Westside Pavilion,n in 2024. UCLA’s February 2026 update anticipated opening the 700,000sqft research park within two years. There, scientists will investigate how the immune system can fight cancer and develop the technology behind quantum computers, with some already calling it the hive. “The ‘hive’ is a tremendous vision for the Park: It captures the creative energy and electricity that we expect the community to generate,” said Hal Monbouquette, a professor at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering.  Any David Jones closures would leave landlords with their own calculations. Finding another retailer for these kinds of large spaces could prove difficult, while conversion brings costs of its own. Still, the need for room is evidently there.