For many Americans, “Space Available” signs at your neighborhood shopping center are becoming more common. Vacancy rates are at a seventeen year high for strip centers, and malls have more empty stores than at any time in ten years.

David Birnbrey, CEO of The Shopping Center Group, a retail leasing and brokerage firm says a lack of consumer confidence means retailers are being cautious.

“Our economy has been turning for the worse since about January of ‘08 when a skew if different retailers indicated they would not be opening stores.”

Many are laying off employees, and firms like his are simply hiring fewer people.  The trend in retail, according to Birnbrey, is towards discounters and thrift stores  — and looking for alternative ways to fill empty for space.

“You gotta get real creative, I mean we’re doing deals with churches and schools, we did a deal with an aircraft maintenance company,” says Birnbrey.

While schools and churches don’t produce the same revenue as large anchor stores,  they serve an important purpose. Higher occupancy rates mean landlords don’t need to reduce rent to keep existing tenants or lure new ones. Rental rates at shopping centers and malls across the country saw a steady decrease since the third quarter of 2008, compared with the same quarter in 2009.

Retail lost nearly 600 thousand jobs between September 2008 and September 2009.  Companies like The Shopping Center Group hope the trend will reverse itself but CEO Birnbrey says that may be a while before consumers open their wallets and confidence returns to the market.