Sears Acadiana Mall Lafayette La opened in 1979 and closed September 17, 2017. This was a two level larger sized Sears store. This store is a mix of retro and new Sears designs. We visited the store a week before it closed.
The Package sign above the entrance doors looks like it may be original.
Now we enter the store near the customer pickup area.
Interesting placement of the mannequins under the employment sign.
At this point of the sale, the offices had been cleared out to be sold piece by piece.
A look at the big picture of the first floor.
Another part of the first floor as we head up the escalator.
This was all that remained of the electronics department.
I wonder how many people used this phone while the store was still in normal operations.
At this register station many years ago, it took a long time to buy just a bag of socks that was on sale for my child. This was when you were asked several questions about applying for a credit card, shop your way, donation, etc.... A lot of people still think the checkout process takes this long at Sears but it does not anymore.
The second floor barely had anything left but fixtures, it was like a retail playground from the past.
That sign will make a good keepsake for a lucky Sears fan. There was not much left of the Parts direct section of the store.
The remains of the Sears optical department.
Looking back into the store from the optical/parts direct sections.
Parts direct section with a Kenmore fixture.
Like I said earlier, open retail playground.
Price check!
So sad to see the once fully stocked store reduced to empty shelves.
A cool framed photo of the fire escape plan of the store.
The appliance department had some of the modern displays seen in the successful stores.
This was the only part of the second floor that still had merchandise. A lot of the appliances were scratch and dent type showroom items.
Heading back down to the first floor.
One more week was left of the sale after my visit.
More fixtures and scenes from the tool/lawn/garden/auto departments.
There were only a few registers still open despite the lines of people checking out items.
More scenes from the tools/lawn/garden/auto departments.
I wonder where these golf clubs came from. A few Sears stores had golf departments around 2010, but they were quickly closed off. This store did not have that department that I remember.
Some of the remaining furniture was left downstairs.
The mall entrance
Yet another abandoned checkout station.
This is such an awesome vintage sign. A few stores from this era still have them.
More exterior photos of the store
The store signage at the mall entrance looking into the mall.
More shots from inside of the store, starting with the former electronics department.
The sign at the exit near the customer pickup.
As of this post, the anchor still sits empty waiting for a redevelopment plan. The anchor store and land are owned by Seritage and should hopefully be redeveloped soon. Acadiana Mall is the busiest and largest mall in Lafayette.
It is certainly sad to see a Sears in good condition like this store close. I guess the same could be said about the Baybrook Mall Sears in Houston. That said, the Acadiana Mall location did a little more work to their mall entrance signage than what was done at Baybrook. It looks nice and the new outdoor signage made the old store look somewhat modern.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that this store had a credit inquiries phone. I've seen that at some Sears, but not all of them. They all need one. I've run into issues where a customer has some sort of issue with their credit card and that hogs up the register for several minutes. Sometimes they have to call the credit card center right from the register, but that prevents anyone else from checking out. It can be a frustrating experience especially given the lack of open registers at most Sears these days. I'm glad they had a phone away from the registers so the clerks were more free to ring up customers and answer questions about products.
Some Sears stores still have those vintage package pick-up and "thank you" signs. The Willowbrook Mall Sears still has those vintage signs by the men's department and there are also some vintage signs by the auto center.
Thanks for giving this store a proper funeral. It's sad to see any Sears go, especially one in good condition, but oh well. Hopefully we won't continue to see this happen with Seritage-owned locations.
Scott was able to help us understand why this store in such good shape closed.
DeleteI need to document the Willowbrook Sears one of these days.
I stopped by Deerbrook this weekend to pick up a few things. It looks like the TV wall is going away for good. Only 3 display and 2 in-box TV's are left. The remaining aisles could probably be put together in one aisle now. I am glad that I took pictures of the progression of the department. I also took some video footage this time just in case they take what remains apart.
So now you're in my neighborhood....
ReplyDeleteThis store, until about a year before it closed, was one of the top Sears stores in sales. What changed? Well, Sears did. The store went quickly downhill over its last two years. Less merchandise, horrible organization, and lower staffing plagued this store. Additionally, shopping in Lafayette has begun moving away from this mall, and other stores have begun moving elsewhere. The mall hasn't taken a big hit, but it's noticeable traffic-wise.
This was a huge store; almost 200,000 square feet. It replaced a store downtown in 1978 that is now city hall. JCP has another store on the north side of town that has picked up in sales. This store replaced a former Selber Brothers that closed in 1987 with that chain. Macy's is, well, Macy's. That store has had no less than 5 nameplates since its opening (Godchaux's, Maison Blanche, Parisian, Foley's and now Macy's). The 3-level Dillard's was originally D.H.Holmes until the latter purchased the former in 1989.
I am hoping the mall can attract someone like Belk, but they've not done much, as Seritage does own this property.
Thanks Scott for the additional information on the Acadiana Mall. Belk would be a great fit for the old Sears store.
DeleteIt is interesting that the anchors at this mall are so large in comparison to malls in similar sized cities.
Sounds like the Sears was in similar shape to the way the Prien Lake Mall store is. Sears and especially Kmart is disappearing all across the state. I was just at the LC Kmart and filmed the store. You can find the video on my YouTube page at https://youtu.be/ENaecYMqlX4
Well, looks like CBL defaulted on a loan for this mall, and they aren't in charge of it any more. Went to Spinosa Property Management
DeleteThis Sears was much larger than Prien Lake. Prien Lake's store was the former Theatre gutted out. It's the same on both floors size-wise. There is much more square footage on the lower level of this store than the upper one.
That is not a good sign for the mall. CBL is hit or miss with their mall management, but they seem to like to renovate malls. They must have spent a good amount on the Acadiana Mall, but it is strange to see them already default on the loan.
DeletePrien Lake Sears has always seemed like a small town store as opposed to a city location like Acadiana was. They were one of the first stores I went to that had eliminated their TV's and major electronics. I figured it was a smaller store, the Sears at Acadiana Mall was the size you commonly see here in Houston.
Acadiana has taken some interesting hits over the years. The driveway has been horrible for some time. I used to park at Sears; I haven't been in the mall since they closed. The food court has been a revolving door. CBL worked with Stirling to build a lifestyle center down the road which has been much more successful. Dillard's did a massive renovation and expansion 2 years ago, and I don't think it has panned out for them.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't see Macy's lasting long either.
It sounds like the retail dollars are leaving the mall area. I hope they are able to keep more tenants from leaving the mall. Macy's is down to 3 locations in Louisiana now with The Esplanade closing last year. Lakeside and Mall of Louisiana are probably big money makers though.
DeleteIt is really cool that you got a photo of the fire-escape plan in the frame. Have you ever taken a picture of another fire-escape map and/or bought one?
ReplyDeleteThat was the first one I have photographed that I can remember. I think that I photographed another one found at the Clearview Mall Sears that closed in 2019.
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