Belle Promenade Mall Happy New Year 2012

R.I.P. Belle Promenade Mall 1983-2000 
1701 Barataria Blvd, Marrero, LA 70072-4249

Aerial photo from the West Bank Guide.

The site plan

This project may be updated in the future with more photos. I would like to give a special thanks to Ryan Smith and David Owens for helping with the research of this article.  

This was the one mall that I watched from the early years all the way to the demise in the late 1990's.
The second Westbank mall project began in 1979 under the name Lapalco Square Mall with a plan for a super regional mall that was to be built in two phases at the corner of Barataria Blvd. and Lapalco Blvd on 145 acres. The land that the mall was planned for is the geographical center of the Westbank of New Orleans in Jefferson Parish. The initial plan was for the mall to have five department stores in a square design that was similar to the Plaza Mall that was in New Orleans East for 1.2 million total square feet of retail space. The mall was built on speculation of future population growth on the West Bank, and many real estate agents did not believe that the West Bank could sustain two major shopping malls. Jim Wilson and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company spent 50 million to develop Belle Promenade Mall which means "nice walk" in French. Low rise offices and a 20 acre recreational area were also planned for the site but were later developed as retail and restaurants. The first department store on the site; DH Holmes opened up on September 9, 1982 while the mall was still under construction. Big Bird and the Cookie Monster were there for the opening festivities. DH Holmes with 250 employees had mostly clothing on the first floor with electronics, toys, A,T,and T Call Center, Housewares, and Furniture on the second floor. My first visit to the mall was at the Holmes store when the mall entrance was not yet opened, but there was a spot to peak at the mall corridor under construction.

The first and only phase of the Belle Promenade Mall opened up on October 5, 1983 to huge fanfare and rave reviews. JCPenney with 300 employees; had clothing on the first floor with electronics, an A,T,and, T phone center, toys, sporting goods, furniture, linens, photo framing, kitchen goods, dining room supplies, and gift items (87 million in inventory). The JCPenney had several dark mirrors as part of the design inside and outside of the mall. The Les Halles food court was the first true mall food court in the New Orleans area, and had seating for over 500 people. The Sound Shop, Kay Bee Toys, and Camelot Music advertised Atari 2600 games. GNC gave away free soap with each purchase, Diamond Jim's arcade one free game, Hanover Shoes gave away a free stuffed puppy with a purchase of hush puppy shoes, and most of the food court restaurants had coupons for free sodas or fries with a purchase.

The second phase which was to include two more department stores in 1984 did not happen. Another visionary version of the second phase was to add only one department store in 1984 and 100,000 more square feet of retail space in 1985. The recession in the mid 1980's in the New Orleans area was probably the reason the mall was never expanded. (If Belle Promenade Mall had expanded; we would probably be writing an article about the demise of Oakwood Mall). The department stores of Godchaux, Sears, Maison Blanche, and Montgomery Ward were companies that had interest in the mall but never showed up.
The Gulf States theater 6 opened on May 23, 1984 with Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom as the first movie. By the first week of June five of the screens were showing Indiana Jones (on 2 screens), Star Trek 3, Pete's Dragon, Once Upon a Time in America, and the sixth opened with The Karate Kid on June 22.

Exclusive photos of the mall in 1984 provided by David Owens

Diamond Jim's arcade was located in the middle of the mall where the carousel was later added.

A rare token from the Diamond Jim's arcade.

Simply gold

The inside of GNC in 1984

A walk down the mall corridor shows that even when the mall was new; there were empty spaces.

Here is the exclusive official store list from the grand opening advertisement from October 5, 1983.

Department Stores

D.H. Holmes 2 floors

JCPenney 2 floors

Accessories Men’s and Women’s

Parklane Hosiery

You and Yours

Apparel Men’s

D’Marks

Designer Collections

J. Riggings

LaVanti

Apparel Men’s and Women’s

Chess King

Jeans West

Merry Go Round

Apparel Women’s

Catherine’s Stout Shoppe

Fashion Stop

5-7-9 Shop

Hit or Miss

Jean Nicole

Learner Shops

Limited, The

Ormond Shop

Pappillon

Books

B. Dalton Bookseller

Waldenbooks

Cards, Gifts, and Stationary

Florentine Gift Shoppe

Gateway Hallmark

Gifts Imported

Summit Stationers

Drug Stores

Eckerd Drugs

Electronics/Computers

Radio Shack

Engraving/ Keys

Things Remembered

Formal Wear

Mitchell’s

Hair Styling

Great American Hair Salons

John Jay Hair Styling

Health Services

Dental Clinic

Home Furnishings/ Housewares

Cutlery World

Deck The Walls

Rolling Pin, The

Wicks ‘n’ Sticks

Jewelry

J. Todd Jewelers

Piercing Pagoda

Simply Gold

Market Research

Opinion Center

Records and Tapes

Camelot Music

Sound Shop, The

Optical Services

Pearl Vision Center

Texas State Optical

Pet Stores

Doctor Pet Center

Photography

Fotomat

One Hour Photo

Wolf Camera

Restaurants/ Fast Food

All American Hero

Bresler’s 33 Flavors

Chick-Fil-A

China Gate

Corn Dog 7

Daiquiri Shoppe

Famous Ramos Hot Dogs

Famous Ramos Potatoes

Pavone Pizza

Penn’s Golden Nuggets

Shirl’s Snacks

Spats Restaurant

Taco Tico

Specialty Foods

Barnie’s Coffee

Cookies, Inc.

General Nutrition

Glass Oven Bakery

National Health

Peanut Shack

Russell Stover Candies

Tin Can Alley

Shoes

Ansonia

Baker’s

Butler’s

Fanfare

Florsheim

Hanover

Jarman

Kinney

Naturalizer

Stride Rite

Thom McAnn

Smoke Shops

Tobacco House

Sporting Goods

Footlocker, The

Hale and Jones

Marchand’s Athletic Shoes

Toys and Hobbies

Kay Bee Toy and Hobby Store

Game Rooms

Diamond Jim’s

Opened in November 1983

Casual Village- Women’s Apparel

Picadilly Cafeteria- Restaurants/ Fast Food

Today’s Woman- Women’s Apparel

Opened in the spring of 1984

Big Sky- Sporting Goods

Gap, The- Men’s and Women’s Apparel

Gulf States Cineplex- Cinema

Hausman Jewelers- Jewelry

Limited Express- Women’s Apparel

Zales- Jewelry

Leonard Krower (jewelers and distributors) also arrived at the mall sometime in 1984.

As you can see from the store opening list; the mall had almost every category of stores that were popular in the 1980's and even in 2012. The mall hosted many events such as fashion shows, "puttin on the hits" singing contest, carnivals, blood drives, arts and craft shows, and even a Mallopoly game that gave shoppers Mallopoly bucks to use at a special auction which included a new Buick Skylark and several other prizes. Belle Promenade was the mall of the west bank of New Orleans until the mid 1980's the oil bust recession of New Orleans started to take its toll on the area. In 1986 the first signs of decline began to surface at the mall with an article in the Times Picayune showing declining sales at the mall during the Christmas season. Belle Promenade Mall was built for an anticipated population growth that was supposed to add over 200,000 residents near the mall in Jefferson Parish over the next twenty years. The population of the New Orleans Metropolitan area actually decreased in the late 1980's with the West Bank of New Orleans and New Orleans East losing the majority of the residents. Nearby Oakwood Mall also took on a renovation in the late 1980's that expanded the mall to include Mervyn's.

The Les Halles food court in 1987 included these restaurants.
Chik-Fil-A
China Gate
The Cookie Company
Corn Dog 7
Daiquiri Shoppe
Famous Ramos Hot Dog Place
Famous Ramos Potato Place
McDonalds
Olde Tyme Sandwich Shop
Peanut Shack
Pretzel Basket
Sim's
Taco Tico
Tin Can Alley
Vegi-Table

Plus additional restaurants
Moonlighting Cafe and Bar next to Eckerds
Picadilly Cafeteria near JCPenney

By 1989 the second restaurant in the Spats location, the Moonlighting restaurant had closed, and several chain stores had closed. The Spats/ Moonlighting was a bar/restaurant concept probably similar to Ruby Tuesday (We never went that I can remember). D.H. Holmes became Dillards this year as well. The cinema around this time also added four screens to ten total screens, and was taken over by the United Artists chain.

Photos from the late 1980's possibly from 1989 with the Holmes nameplate still intact. Photos Courtesy of Perez and Ryan Smith (Perez helped with the design of the mall).
JCPenney to the far left, Spat's / Moonlighting Restaurant (already closed), and Eckerd's.

Spat's restaurant (already closed), Eckerd's, and Holmes.

The entrance to JCPenney; Spencer's gifts was just to the right of where this photo was taken.

The corridor to Holmes with a mall entrance to the left of where this photo was taken.

The food court of the mall had several eateries when the mall opened, but started to lose tenants in the late 1980's. The Times Picayune had a few advertisements to purchase food court restaurants in the late 1980's that were probably failing inside of the mall.

It was all about the skylights at Belle Promenade Mall; the skylights towered inside of the mall. A look at the aerial photo above shows the tall skylights in several spots throughout the mall.

In 1993 the owners spent millions renovating the mall and added a carousel. The renovation changed the inside color to a light white and pink and also added an updated logo on the mall entrances. This remodel added a few new stores, but the damage was done from the recession of the late 1980's. Many stores that had closed were not replaced and the mall was losing ground to Oakwood Mall.

In the mid 1990's these were the stores operating in the mall; notice that the store list is much smaller from the 1983 list.

Department Stores
Dillards
JC Penney

Beauty Salons
Command Performance
Nail and Facial
Regis Hairstyles

Candy stores
Bourbon Street Candy Co
Chocolate Mania

Children’s Apparel
Kids Mart

Discount Stores
Dollar Tree

Doctors/ Optometrists
Texas State Optical Marrero Office
Vision Plaza Marrero

Food Court
Chick-Fil-A Inc
Mcdonalds Corp
Sbarro

Jewelry
Gold Valley
The Golden Chain Gang
Gordons Jewelers
Jewelry Kingdom
Kay Jewelers
Piercing Pagoda
Zales Jewelers

Men’s Apparel
Fashion Man Inc
J Riggings Co Men’s Clothing
Mitchell’s Formal Wear

Music and Entertainment
Camelot Music
The Carousel Co
Mallscapes
Radio Shack
Sound Shop
Spencer Gifts
United Artists Theatres Belle Promenade Cinema 10

Restaurants
Piccadilly Cafeteria

Security/ Government Offices
Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office

Shoes
Bakers Shoe Store
Champs Sports
Donnauds Western & Work Boots Inc
Footaction USA
Foot Locker
Jarman Shoe Store
Lady Foot Locker
Payless Shoesource
The Wild Pair

Specialty retail stores
Beepers Plus
Cardamerica
Deck The Walls
General Nutrition Center
Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby Shop
Things Remembered
Waldenbooks
Wicks N Sticks

Women’s Apparel
Catherine’s
Five-Seven-Nine Shop
Hi-Style
Jean Nicole Plus
Jeans West
Lane Bryant
Lerner Shop
The Limited

By 1998 Kay-bee, Waldenbooks, Chick Fil A, McDonalds, and even the mom and pop stores were leaving. JC Penney’s started a closing sale in November 1998 (They moved into the former Maison Blanche location at Oakwood the larger west bank mall after Belle Promenade closed.) Dillards announced that they refused to be the only anchor in the mall and started their closing sale a week later. Dillards already had an Oakwood location that was very successful less than 5 miles away. After the anchors closed up the 1980's style Spencer's that was located in the closed JCPenney corridor, shut down. The Dollar Tree, The Sound Shop, Champs sports, even the optometrist closed up. A carnival fair in the parking lot in 1999 also was shut down abruptly when three people were shot in a fight near the carnival with one 17 year old killed. The last 17 stores on the inside faded to three and the cinema within 6 months.

Belle prominade mall closed in 2000 and the last three remaining stores were Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, GNC, and also the United Artists Theaters. The inside of the mall closed in March 2000 and the theater literally boarded up access to the mall past the theater entrance. Then the United Artists theaters closed in June 2000 and the center went dark. Shortly after the mall was shut down, the site became a makeshift truck stop/ party spot until the entrances to the mall parking lots were closed off. The site sat empty until 2001 when partial demolition took place when the old Dillards and half of the mall were taken down over the course of a year. In 2003 the rest of the mall except the old JCPenney anchor was demolished and a road was built through the middle of the old mall floor (Still intact after the demolition) and a Wal-Mart super center opened. Now there is a strip center with the GNC almost directly on top of where the old store was inside the mall. A piece of the mall with the skylight still intact was still attached to the empty JCPenney's anchor until 2008 when it was demolished for a Lowe's. Two strip centers on the site keep the name of the mall alive; Promenade Shoppes and Belle Barataria Center. Currently the Promenade Shoppes, Lowe's, and Wal-Mart are the only stores that have been built on the actual mall site. The rest of the development has been around the mall facing Barataria or Lapalco.

Unfortunately I did not have a very good camera when this mall was being demolished so these are the only pictures that I have. If anyone has any pictures of this mall I would be interested in them. I grew up around this mall and watched it decline and get demolished in less than 20 years. This mall has a nearly identical floor plan to the Pasadena Town Square Mall in Pasadena Texas.
1999

2000




Google birds eye view just before demolition

2001 exclusive new video pre-demolition at the mall.
Belle Promenade Mall

2002 The demolition.

This was the center court of the mall.

This shot is where the Dillard's stood facing the south side of the mall.

Here is a shot of the length of the mall from the south near Lapalco Blvd. JCPenney is the far away two story building. The next three shots are of JCPenney, the mall entrance sign, and the former food court/ cinema.








2004

In 2004 or 2005 Urban Explorers went into the former JCPenney; click on this sentence for the link.
2007
This is all that remained of the Belle Promenade Mall in July of 2007. This is the JCPenney anchor along with a piece of the old mall attached.




2011
The back parking lot going towards the former cinema and food court of the mall.

Take a good look at the ground behind this sign; the floor of the food court is still intact in some spots. For now this part of the site is empty, but the site has been gaining new developments every few years and it may be gone soon. The developers of the site are heavily marketing the site for further development.

The food court and cinema foundation was being used by skateboarders.

The tiles are still in some spots despite being out in the elements.

The view from behind Wal-Mart over the former food court and cinema.

Wal-Mart was built at the edge of the site just outside of where the food court and cinema were.

Looking at the former parking lot in between the strip center and Lowe's.

Looking towards Lowe's which was built at the site of the closed JCPenney.

This road was actually built over most of the mall footprint and circles around to Barataria Blvd.

This was once the entrance to the parking lot of the mall, but now the road goes to Wal-Mart and Lapalco Blvd.

This small strip center keeps the name Promenade going and even has a GNC which was one of the last stores at the mall.

Looking from Lowe's to the strip center. Fifteen years ago this would have been roughly where Spencer's gifts was at inside of the mall.

The next two photos are of the possible future site of Wayne's World, an entertainment complex. More importantly this was the site of the Holmes/ Dillard's, Eckerd's, and Spat's restaurant.

I also made it to the Gambit for my question about the mall
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/hey-blake-im-looking-for-information-on-the-former-belle-promenade-mall-in-marrero-on-the-west-bank/Content?oid=1905853

If anyone has any photos or even a mall directory from the mall we would like to be able to share these items with our readers. Please comment below or send an email to southernmalls@gmail.com
Also any other mall information that is on my site or requests for new malls are always welcomed and appreciated.

Comments that were deleted from my previous Belle Promenade Mall post.

Anonymous said...
Anyone remember the name of the pub/restaurant in Belle Promenade?
November 8, 2011 11:26 AM

je said...
Picadilly was near JCPenney and Spats was the restaurant near Eckerd and Holmes. The Spats spot was later used for another restaurant but I don't have the name for that one.
November 8, 2011 3:06 PM

je said...
To stir some debate, Spencer's, and the Dollar Tree were near JCPenney. Kay Bee Toys, Sound Shop, Champs sports, and Footlocker were near the food court. GNC, an Airbrush shop, and Bourbon Street Candy were in between the Food Court and Holmes. Sbarro, Chik fil A, Corn Dog 7 were some of the food court tenants.
November 8, 2011 3:18 PM

Anonymous said...
The name of the aracade in the mall was called Diamond Jim's, I believe. It was located sort of in the middle of the mall close to the food court. I remember the McDonald's was near the bathrooms in the food court. The movie theater also had like a smaller arcade adjacent to where you would buy tickets. Later they moved the movie theater to the other side of the mall corridor. When BP was built, it put a big hurt on Oakwood mall. It' s a shame that we have no sort of decent mall on the Westbank now...Oakwood is shell of what it once was.
November 8, 2011 10:57 PM

je said...
I agree with the comment about Oakwood; it looks nice on the inside, but lacks the character of the 1980's malls. Oakwood was put back together as quickly as possible to re-open, but did not address the issue of refilling the Mervyn's anchor spot leaving a huge void in front of the mall.
November 9, 2011 12:15 AM

Anonymous said...
I wonder if another anchor would possibly save Oakwood?
Was there any music stores in Belle Promenade?
November 10, 2011 3:31 PM

je said...
They had a sound shop music store near the food court, and a smaller independant music store near Dillards in the mid 1990's. Oakwood looks much nicer since they re-opened the mall in 2007. I am surprised that Macys or Belk has not taken the empty Mervyns anchor spot. I will be putting together an Oakwood post in the near future for the blog, I think Oakwood has a great future ahead once they fill the empty anchor spot. The original DH Holmes anchor has been partially filled by Forever 21.
November 11, 2011 12:18 AM

je said...
I recently uncovered a new video from 2004 that I will add to the upcoming article for the Belle Promenade Mall. It is an up close view of the JCPenney and the small covered part of the mall that remained when the rest of the mall was torn down. We are still looking for photos of the outside of the mall and interior of the mall to add to this upcoming article. A special thanks goes out to one of my readers that has been working diligently to help gather information for the complete history of the Belle Promenade Mall article coming soon.
November 11, 2011 2:44 AM

Anonymous said...
The "independent music store" you're referring to in Belle Promenade was actually a chain store, called Camelot Music. It was on the end by DH Holmes/Dillards.
November 12, 2011 10:34 AM

je said...
@ anonymous Thanks for the clarification :)
November 12, 2011 8:20 PM

je said...
I now have a 1990's store list, but we need more photos.
November 12, 2011 11:07 PM

je said...
After doing some major research we now have a complete 1983 store and food court list, the original name of the mall before Belle Promenade, the first movie shown in the theatre, and much more information. We also have a complete Lake Forest Plaza 1974 store list and Kenilworth Mall 1970 store list from both of those openings. A bunch of historical info is coming soon to the blog.