Godchaux's/ Maison Blanche/ Dillard's Airline Highway Baton Rouge LA

This is an interesting holdout from the days of Godchaux/ Maison Blanche department stores. This location is listed as 1500 Main St and is located just off of Florida Blvd east of downtown Baton Rouge.

http://urbanprairiewasteland.blogspot.com/2008/11/dead-malls-of-louisiana-goudchauxs.html

Marq-E Entertainment Center Houston TX

So I was looking into starting posts about Skyscrapers with this blog. The readers have spoken and I will continue to stay with retail and malls with this blog. I may start a skyscraper blog in the future though to showcase my thousands of photos of downtowns in Louisiana and Texas.

The Marq-E center in Houston Texas was developed as a mixed use retail and entertainment center. The entertainment and restaurant options have been mostly successful, but retail here has not taken off. The nearby Bunker Hill/ Gessner area is where most of the retail of the area is located, with the exception of the Houston Ikea which is near the Marq-E center. Retail also has struggled at the site because many of the entertainment options are frequented at night and not open during the day when the retail stores were open. The final reason why retail struggles here was the lack of a retail anchor on the site. Parking at the site was also an issue, so a parking garage was later built. The partially enclosed portion of the center was torn down in 2009 to make room for more parking. Wal-mart also recently opened a store right behind the center, and a small retail center was added to the front of the development.

Click here for the directory archive of the retail stores that were in the development.

Here are views of the development from the top of the parking garage. 

Most of the businesses are entertainment night clubs or restaurants. 

This was once the area of enclosed stores, now a parking lot and side walk. At the end of this walkway the Edwards Cinemas towers over the complex.

This was towards the end of the demolition of the interior portion of the center. Retail stores did not last as anticipated in this entertainment development.

The Improv labelscar is from the original location of the club which moved before this section of the development was demolished.

Southpark Mall Shreveport LA Dec 2011

                                          Welcome back to the Southpark Mall Shreveport LA.

A mall so cool I had to make a second trip when I had the opportunity.

Unfortunately the "Churchmall" was closed for the Holiday Season, so I was unable to go inside. There was no shortage of photo opportunities from the outside looking in of the mall, and I was able to get some views that I may have overlooked if the building was open. Burlington was open and very busy on this visit just a week before Christmas. 

The detail of the skylight in the middle of the above mall overhang.

This section of the mall looks like any other mall during the holiday season, except for the fact that the mall is closed. 

Stage with Dillard's towards the back. 

A look into the mall entrance facing the former entrance to JCPenney.

A look into the mall entrance number 1; Dillard's was to the left and Burlington to the right.

A look into the mall through the glass of the Burlington store. The store did not bother to cover up the windows of the former mall entrance.

The Montgomery Ward was closed again and the thrift sale (from my last post) was all gone. 

There is no more merchandise to pick up!

The Dillard's had an interesting detail that would not be found in today's stores. 

The former JCPenney.

The former Montgomery Ward.

As a bonus; just south of the mall is this obvious former Toy's R Us store. 

The entrance sign to the Church/Mall

Poll Results: A future direction for the blog

Thank you to my readers for taking the time to vote on this poll to help with the future direction of this blog.
In 2013 I plan on slowing down the pace of this blog with only one or two posts per month instead of the nearly weekly current pace on the blog. I will expand my offerings in the site in the future to include cities and malls that have not been featured yet. In addition to the results of this poll, please comment with any suggestions of any specific retail site you would like to see featured here. The name of my blog has been changed to Louisiana and Texas Southern Malls, Retail, and Buildings. I will also add building posts of skyscrapers, and other interesting buildings to expand my blog.  

Now onto the poll results.

New Malls 16%- Not much interest in this category. Malls such as Katy Mills, and Lakeside fall under this category. I consider new malls to be top-tier and  recently remodeled or expanded malls regardless of age.
Older Malls 48%- An overwhelming majority of you would like to see more older malls featured here. Malls such as Northgate and Northwest fall under this category. Older malls retain their charm from the past with a more limited store selection.  
Malls That are Gone 54%- Another overwhelming majority and the top choice of this poll. Malls such as Belle Promenade and Northline fall under this category.
Shopping Centers 14% I do not have much interest in shopping centers, but I will feature unique shopping centers or several centers in the same town as a post on the blog.
Outlet Malls 2%- Wow only one vote, I plan on covering a few enclosed outlet malls in the future, but I can see the lack of interest in this category as well.
Department Stores 22%- The biggest stores that bring people to malls or downtown. Department stores are usually included with mall posts unless they are standalone such as the Sears and Macy's in Houston.
Big Box Stores 16%- I usually feature Big Box stores that have closed or stores that are interesting to me such as Kmart, Comp USA, or others.

I opened up a new poll to find out if there is any interest from my fantastic blog readers in the new buildings category.