Saturday, April 14, 2012

East Lake Center/ Wal Mart/ Sam's Club/ Service Merchandise NO East

This stretch of I-10 in between Read Blvd. and Bundy Rd. has seen better days. Once this area was full of retail and entertainment options, but now only a couple of businesses remain. The first photo is the former Service Merchandise that is now a church; the site of the Lake Forest Plaza Mall is to the left or east of this building. The Plaza Mall will have a huge article soon that goes over the early history of the mall similar to the Belle Promenade and Kenilworth articles from earlier this year, stay tuned.
This was the Eastlake shopping center anchored by Delchamps, Eastlake 8 cinemas, and several other retailers including Children's Palace and a small Sears after the Plaza Sears closed. There were also a few restaurants in the front such as Texas Roadhouse.
This Furinture Mart is the only piece of this shopping center left standing and in business. This was once a Delchamp's that was unfortunately closed overnight without any warning to the employees.  
The next few pictures are the now empty lots that the shopping center, former Wal mart, and Sam's Club were on before Hurricane Katrina. Everything was demolished, but nothing has been rebuilt. If anyone from Wal mart is reading this article, please come back to New Orleans East!

14 comments:

  1. What was the old service merchandise building originally ?

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    1. Most of the Service Merchandise buildings in this area were former H.J. Wilson's stores that were converted when they were taken over by Service Merchandise. I am not sure if it was anything prior to that or if Wilson's built the store.

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    2. It was a Wilson's. I used to live at 9132 Bunkerhill Rd and could see the store from my window.

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    3. Thanks for the clarification, Cooper

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  2. Wal-Mart opened a new location just east of the former location at 6000 Bullard Avenue .

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    1. Yeah, I really need to go back and update some of these older articles. I wish more retailers would come back to NO East.

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  3. New Orleans East seems to be still really struggling compared to what they had. There was that other shopping center with both a Sears and Kmart that sat vacant for years until they demolished it, yet nothing has been built. Hopefully some brand new houses, new parks and community places come to the New Orleans East.

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    1. New Orleans East has been very slow to come back after Katrina. It was already declining and many homeowners decided not to come back. A lot of the rental housing was decimated as well. There are few reasons to invest here right now, only 2 large grocery stores, few retail options, high crime, empty buildings and lots everywhere. If some areas are left to nature and the abandoned buildings are demolished it might help.

      A few new developments and a hospital have come to the area, but it is still not attractive for new families to move to the area.

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  4. They need to put some malls back in the east and put fantastic Sam's fitness center

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    1. The East needs a lot more retail and things to do. The East will come back, it will just continue to be a slow process.

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  5. I used to live in Bunkerhill in the 80s was convenient for myself and the neighborhood they need to make one back in the East

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    1. I haven't been down to New Orleans since 2019, how is the East doing in 2023?

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  6. Sams should come back. Have to go out of the parish for Sams and other shopping trips It was promised that the Smoothie King would be put in the East and the Saints training facility would be in be East promises when approval was given by officials. You still have many homeowners invested in the East and will not leave.

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    1. I agree with you but the odds of getting new brick and mortar retailers is getting lower and lower as companies have scaled back expansion plans. The East is not alone in being promised big plans for redevelopment without coming through. It really sucks that the residents of New Orleans East can't get something better.

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