LOS ANGELES >> Few remnants of the nation’s recession have been as painful as the big-box stores that were left vacant by companies that downsized or went out of business.

Many Southland cities say they are no longer grappling with as many empty stores, but a new wave of big-box vacancies is about to hit.

Blockbuster, the video rental chain that has been hammered by the rise of digital and on-demand entertainment, announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining 300 stores by early January.

“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said Joseph P. Clayton, president and CEO of DISH Network Corp., Blockbuster’s parent company. “Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”

The move will result in the closure of numerous stores throughout Southern California. The company’s website lists Blockbuster locations in Santa Clarita, Mission Hills, Simi Valley, Canoga Park, Van Nuys, South Pasadena, Glendora, Temple City, Burbank, West Covina, South Gate, West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Carson, South Gate, Rancho Cucamonga, Mira Loma, Fontana and Riverside.

Blockbuster isn’t the only retailer that has left big stores sitting empty.

Eric Duyshart, Pasadena’s economic development manager, said his city has two big vacancies. One is an empty Macy’s department store at the Paseo Colorado mall that eventually will be demolished to make way for a hotel and additional retail. The other is a 45,000-square-foot, three-story building that housed a Borders bookstore on Lake Avenue.

“That was on the market for quite a while and someone bought it, but they’ve been sitting on it,” Duyshart said. “They’re not superactive about looking for another tenant because they will have to share the parking area with the adjacent Macy’s store, so that provides some obstacles. It’s been a little bit of a struggle because we would really like to have that occupied. But several parties have been eager to take on the space.”

Pasadena may have two big-box vacancies now, but there will soon be a third. On Wednesday a representative with Barnes & Noble confirmed rumors that the company’s Pasadena store will be closing on Dec. 31.

David Deason, vice president of development for Barnes & Noble, released a statement about the pending closure.

“We have operated the Pasadena location for the past 20 years,” Deason said. “Our lease is expiring in February 2014 and we worked diligently to come to an agreement with the property owner, but were unable to come to terms to extend the lease. As a result, the store will be closing at the end of this year.”

Deason said the company opened five new stores and closed 12 during 2013.

John Andrews, Ontario’s economic development director, said his city also has seen changes.

“When it comes to empty big-box stores, we really don’t have too much of a problem,” he said. “We just had a Wal-Mart open. That’s about 190,000 square feet, and we’ve also got a Home Depot, Target and Lowe’s. We’ve been pretty fortunate that all of those are open.”

Andrews acknowledged, however, that an Albertsons grocery store on Grove Avenue closed about a year ago and has yet to be re-occupied. A former Best Buy store in the eastern portion of Ontario also remains vacant, he said.

“There’s been activity in terms of tenant interest for the Albertsons space, but it’s still an ongoing process that’s being reviewed and discussed by the property owner,” Andrews said.

Another former Borders bookstore on 1 Mills Circle has been scoped out as a possible location for an Ashley Furniture Homestore, Ashley spokesman Jason Lockington said.

“We have looked into that but there’s no confirmation at this point,” he said.

Ashley Furniture did take over a former Borders store at Montclair Plaza in Montclair, however. The company has 32 stores in California, most of which are independently operated.

There are several other success stories of big-box locations throughout Southern California that have been repurposed for new tenants.

A 121,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store that opened late last year in the Eastland Center in West Covina occupies what used to be a Mervyns department store. Mike Lee, West Covina’s Community Development Commission director, said the city was glad to see Wal-Mart move in.

“When big stores like that are vacant they don’t generate any tax revenue,” he said. “We like to see them re-tenanted.”

Lee said another Blockbuster in the city is being readied to accommodate two or three new tenants.

In Santa Clarita, a former Borders bookstore is now occupied by Gold’s Gym, and a Wal-Mart in Simi Valley was once home to a Mervyns department store.

In Hesperia, Stater Brothers scooped up a closed Albertsons on Main Street, but closed a smaller location less than a mile away. However, 99 Cents Only then turned around and took over the smaller Stater Brothers store.

Andrews said property owners have learned to become flexible when leasing or selling large, vacant spaces.

“It can sometimes present a challenge for property owners to bring in a similar tenant,” he said. “If it was a supermarket, you might see it divided into two spaces, and the city is open to that. It really becomes what the individual property owner or ownership group wants to do with the space. A lot of times the vacant buildings were primary or secondary anchors for a center.”

Andrews said the supermarket sector is especially challenged these days because mega retailers like Wal-Mart and Target have beefed up their grocery sections. That trend also helped fuel the closure of many Fresh & Easy markets.

“It’s not surprising to see some of these spaces remain vacant for a period of time,” Andrews said. “In a perfect world we would like to see all of the shopping centers totally occupied, but the retail business is a challenging one these days.”

That challenge was clearly reflected in some of the mergers and downsizing announcements that took place earlier this year.

In late January, Barnes & Noble announced plans to shutter up to one-third of its stores over the next decade.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mitchell Klipper, who heads the company’s retail group, said his forecast was based on the assumption that the bookseller will close about 20 stores a year over that period. The company was operating 689 stores when that announcement was made.

“In 10 years, we’ll have about 450 to 500 stores,” Klipper said.

The company closed its Woodland Hills store in the Westfield Promenade on New Year’s Eve, leaving just three locations in the San Fernando Valley — Calabasas, Studio City and Burbank.

But the company still operates numerous Southern California locations, including stores in Chino Hills, Glendale, Glendora, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marina Del Rey, Montclair, Newport Beach, Palmdale, Pasadena, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rowland Heights, Santa Monica, Temecula, Thousand Oaks, Torrance and Valencia.

Southern California was dealt another blow in August when Lowe’s Companies Inc. announced that it had completed its acquisition of the majority of assets of Orchard Supply Hardware, including 72 Orchard stores for $205 million in cash, plus the assumption of debts owed to nearly all of Orchard’s suppliers.

Orchard Supply had earlier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being weighed down by years of declining sales, an overcrowded California market and the massive debt it inherited from parent company Sears Holding Corp.

The move has resulted in the closure of several of the company’s Southland stores in such locations as Santa Clarita, Burbank, Canoga Park, Long Beach and Torrance.

But at least one Southern California city doesn’t seem to have a problem with big-box vacancies.

“I talked with Majestic Realty today,” said Don Sachs, executive director of the Industry Manufacturers Council. “I thought our vacancy rate was under 5 percent — that’s the figure I’ve been using for the past year. But Majestic said the actual vacancy rate is under 2 percent. We have companies that want to stay or relocate here that want larger accommodations but can’t find them.”