As American malls and derpartment stores grow ever more empty, data centre operators such as Venyu Solutions are seizing the opportunity to convert the vacant shops into rack space.

"Who else wants them?" said Brian Vandegrift, the company’s executive vice president of sales. "You're not competing with people in substantial businesses who want those spaces."

Interestingly, Venyu have been in discussions with an unnamed Bitcoin mining company which seeks to lease space in a converted McRae's department store in Jackson, Mississippi.

"We're wanting to make sure he's going to pay us with U.S. currency."

Is this the beginning of a new trend in which bringing Bitcoin to the masses results in flooding their malls with bitcoin mining operations? Only time will tell.

Source – http://online.wsj.com/articles/malls-fill-vacant-stores-with-server-rooms-1415042980