Here is another exclusive mall to the blog. Kenilworth Mall was a shopping center/ mall that was located on Morrison Rd near the I-10 interchange. Kenilworth Mall opened in the then fast growing New Orleans East area just four years before the massive Lake Forest Plaza Mall opened two exits away on Read Blvd and I-10. Any additional photos of this mall will be greatly appreciated southernmalls@gmail.com.
The mall was very similar in size and design to the Inglewood Mall in Morgan City Louisiana.
Here is a link to a groceteria photo, scroll down to the fourth post for a picture of the mall.
Today this is all that remains of the former mall; the parking lot and foundation.
A and P Supermarket
Avalon Bazaar
Bagert Drycleaners
Bresslers 33 Flavors
Burger King (outparcel)
The Chateau Fashions (Opened March 21, 1970)
Diners/ Fugazy Travel
Franks Beauty Parlor
Jennies Hallmark Cards
Katz and Besthoff Drug Store (K and B) (Opened February 16, 1970)
Kenilworth Barber Shop
Kenilworth Cinema (Opened Aug 13, 1969 with the movie Ice Station Zebra)
Kenilworth Fashion Fabrics
S H Kress Family Store (Opened at the end of 1969)
Lake Forest Inc.
Mel's Monograms (Opened June 1970)
Mr K's Boutique
Music Monitor
National Bank of Commerce
New Dimension Gift Shop
Shakey's Pizza
Style Line Ladies Wear
V and L Coins and Gifts
Vision Plaza East
Wig Castle
The mall suffered for years and did not have too many businesses left in 1999; my only visit to this center. K and B was still here after Rite Aid took over and a few small spaces were in business. The mall was flooded during Hurricane Katrina and sat for a few years until the site was demolished. The Burger King unit that was next to the mall has also been demolished. As you will see in my next New Orleans East articles, nearly all of the I-10 East retail has been wiped out because of Hurricane damage. Wal-Mart, Sams Club, Sears Appliances, The Grand Cinema, Dillard's, Sav A Center, Big Lots, Toys R Us, and several small shops are all gone.
A new article that mentions some possible causes to the demise of this mall after Katrina.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wwltv.com/news/local/orleans/Decaying-Downman-Road-could-become-economic-development-district-141386453.html
The A&P next to the K&B seems similar to a small mall that was on Vets, maybe near Severn or near where that movie theater that showed Rocky Horror.
ReplyDeleteI use to walk every day to Mckenzie...Im so intrigued in the history of this placed as around the late 90's I only saw boarded up windows and a vacant mall that I could never get into. The cinema was also converted into a Church by the way
ReplyDeleteI remember a "Cloth World" store somewhere near here in the 1970s... was it in this Kenilworth Mall? Or where was the exact location? I was a kid, my mom brought me into that place all the time to do her shopping.
ReplyDeleteCloth World was on the river side of the center. On the opposite side from K&B.
DeleteYes, there was a Cloth World. I remember a store in that mall that had bridges and fountains. It was a really neat store. I used to love to go in it as a kid.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Cloth World, a carpet store, lounge, And a hobby shop.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Cloth World, carpet store, lounge, and hobby store.
ReplyDeleteDid this Cloth World store end up a Jo-Ann Fabrics? Those two chains merged up here in Pennsylvania sometime around 1995, but since maybe 2005 several of these stores (after about a decade of wearing the Jo-Ann nameplate) were relocated to much larger and more modern Jo-Ann stores, often in much more popular, upscale centers.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it did. The mall was mostly vacant except for the Rite Aid and a few small shops when Hurricane Katrina came through. I visited the mall a few times in the late 1990's and I don't remember seeing that store.
DeleteJo-Ann Fabrics bought Cloth World along with the chain House of Fabrics (which most crafters have probably forgotten, but it had a Hollywood appearance in the movie American Graffiti) and Fabric King (which similarly was featured in the movie Edward Scissorhands many years later).
ReplyDeleteMan I hated cloth world, going in early 90s with my grandma. Only time I ever seen my grandma slap my uncle!!! Lol. We would cut up. The wal mart wasn't the best, never had Pokemon cards lol. I remember seeing the first Speed movie at the movie theatre near Walmart and SAMs. And then I remember seeing Street Fighter at the plaza's movie. And that McDonald's inside the plaza, with the slide!!! But back to kenilworth, I miss the ball park. I didn't know the shopping center was so poppin early on. I def remember renting N64 games at the video shop in that center. By k&b. I even got a haircut from the old military guy that had a shop in there.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy that the East barely has any stores these days. I spent a lot of time at the Plaza in the early 80's and later on in the late 90's when half of the stores were gone. I went to the Kenilworth K&B a few times but I don't remember the inside of the mall too much.
DeleteI bought all my first comic books, 45 singles and even record albums at the K&B here. After 'Star Wars' had played the big theaters, it moved to Kenilworth. I saw it about once a week all summer, alternating with 'Smokey and the Bandit.' There was a cocktail lounge by the dry cleaners, I think ... the "Bitter Lemon"? I mostly remember this because I'd see my dad's service truck there, he and his work partner liked to take an air-conditioned break between jobs haha.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your experiences at the mall.
DeleteWiltshire plaza in 700 block of Veterans Blvd which had K&B , A&P , Gaylords (later became Zayre) , along 12 different shops and food places there .
ReplyDeleteDid that shopping center have an enclosed area as well? I can't remember for sure, but several shopping centers in the area had a small enclosed corridor with stores at one point.
DeleteWas New Dimension Gift Shop like a high end Kirklands? Or was that Avalon Bazaar? When we moved into the neighborhood in the mid 70's my parents bought some home furnishings from one of those stores.
ReplyDeleteI find that I spend a lot of time dreaming of Kenilworth, Bon Marche on Crowder, and the Plaza. My adult brain is trying to make sense of the childhood memories.
Did Kenilworth have any interior stores, or were they only outward opening.
My first outing in life, after being discharged from the hospital, was to Cloth World. They weren't expecting a girl, so my grandmother wanted to get some pink fabric.
Thanks for the info Meg, New Orleans East has changed so much it is hard to picture what was there back in the 70's and 80's. Hopefully more photos of these places will turn up so we can see them once again.
DeleteI remember Gloria Marshalls I think that was in the mall
DeleteThanks for the comment Anonymous
DeleteI remember shopping over at The Money tree for Airfix 1/78 plastic army men from WW I and WW II!
ReplyDelete