We are back again with an update to a central Louisiana mall that we haven't seen in several years. It has been almost a decade, how time flies! Alexandria Mall is listed as having 869,000 square feet of retail space, a really large mall for a city with a metro population of around 150,000. Alexandria Mall has seen a lot of changes since our last visit.
Let's start with the good changes. Michael's recently opened a store up in the Bed Bath and Beyond space. A large antique store has set up shop in several large store spaces in that same wing of the mall. Rainbow took over the old Forever 21 space in the food court.
Sadly, not all is good at the mall. Kirkland's which was a newer addition to the mall closed in 2025 and the entire wing from the former Bed Bath and Beyond to Sears was then sealed off. Sears and Conns also closed in that wing so a good bit of the mall is now completely dead. Burlington moved out of their space to a nearby shopping center and the food court recently lost Chik Fil A. The food court is down to the last restaurant. Bath and Body Works just closed a couple of months before our visit as well.
Dillard's and JCPenney continue to operate at the mall and the corridor from just past Dillard's to JCPenney is nearly full of stores.
Alexandria Mall was an ambitious development for this city. It will be difficult to fill all of the vacant storefronts here with traditional retailers. A lot of the nearby shopping centers already have the national chain stores that you normally find such as Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Ross, Marshalls, and the others. Mall management is marketing some of the empty spaces for pop-up shops and restaurants. We will see how things go for the property, but like all malls in smaller cities, it is very difficult to fill large vacancies.
We will start with the outside tour of the mall.
The new Michaels
The wall of the former Bed Bath and Beyond is still intact on the side of the new Michaels. There is even a hidden entrance to the mall that we will see later.
The former Conn's that was a fairly recent addition to the mall. Conn's closed all of their stores in 2024 so this was an unavoidable casualty for the mall.
Sears that closed in 2018.
A Weiss-Goldring labelscar. That store actually relocated into a space outside of the mall.
The mall entrance that was updated when Kirklands opened up in 2015. The store closed almost 10 years later in 2025.
The mall entrance near JCPenney.
This store space looks like it was an old pharmacy. K&B maybe?
JCPenney
Across the parking lot we see the Weiss-Goldring store with its retro sign. It is always refreshing to see an old-school business still going in 2026. Weiss-Goldring has been in business since 1899!
Dillard's
The former Burlington/Mervyn's which is now vacant.
Ulta and Versona are still going strong at the food court entrance to the mall.
Fun on the Geaux play center. A creative use of a vacant junior anchor space.
The updated road sign.
Our tour of the inside starts here. Looking from the mall entrance at Dillard's.
This area of the mall is very quiet. Most of the tenants here are gone.
The directory shows the outline of the mall. It hasn't been updated to remove the closed off corridor, but the list of stores and restaurants is mostly accurate. It was hard to get a good photo with the glare.
The corridor opposite of the food court has a good line of stores.
Hibbett Sports is down here all by itself on this side of the mall.
I really like the design of the ceilings and skylights here. The chrome here reminds me a lot of the recently visited Pecanland Mall in Monroe Louisiana.
The former Burlington that moved out in 2024.
Burlington didn't do much to change the store over the years. The interior still looks like it did when Mervyn's occupied the space.
The Burlington corridor.
Looks like on the weekends this side of the mall has some games for the children.
Here is the food court. We will have a lot more from this side of the mall later on in the tour.
Some of the vacancies have these advertisements showing the space for lease.
The food court with the last restaurant standing, Habanero.
The corridor from the food court to JCPenney is the most lively.
Looking down the hallway from the other direction facing Dillard's.
A vacant store space that is advertised as a pop-up shop.
A look inside of the store space for lease.
More views as we continue to walk through the mall.
We skipped a little further down past JCPenney, we will see more in a bit.
The former Stage store that is being used as a play center for kids. The mall play area is also in view. It was moved from the wing of the mall that is now closed off.
We continue down to the end of the mall.
The former Bed Bath and Beyond space is now a hidden entrance to the mall. Michaels takes up most of this former space, but only has an exterior entrance.
Michaels is on the left side of this sealed off entrance. The doors to the right are open for mall access.
Just beyond this new wall is the former Conn's, Sears, and Kirklands along with more mall space. You can see my last visit to the mall in the photos here. From new stores opening to closed off in 10 years, what a turn of events for this side of the mall.
Former Victorias Secret store.
A few pop-up businesses and the Antique store are down in this end of the mall.
The Bed Bath and Beyond mall entrance. It is a creative way to keep this end of the mall open to enter and exit.
More views of the skylights in this end of the mall.
The ceilings without skylights are looking a bit worn out. The carpet is holding up pretty well down here.
The main mall entrance.
The large antique store has so many cool items. It is worth a visit if you ever drop by this mall.
We will continue down this hallway and exit the mall.
The skylight at this end of the mall.
Here is the sign that greets you at the old Kirklands mall entrance next to the old Sears.
Here is a look into the closed off section of the mall.
A look into the former Sears. The tile ceilings are falling down due to water damage.
A lot of windows are broken and boarded up. You have to reach up high to see into the building with a camera.
The automotive department with tools down further on the right.
The vacant automotive center.
Package pickup area.
The only remaining sign that I could find. I wonder if the mall entrance still has the Sears signage.
One more look into the pick up area.
Spirit Halloween had a temporary mall store here at one point. I wonder why they have the no firearm sign here.
The Conn's labelscar.
Every now and then, you find something really cool while walking around the delivery doors at old malls.
The sign is too far gone to try and save, but wow this is a really cool relic to see in 2026. Conn's took up the former Sam Goody store at the mall and then some when they opened up in 2016.
A far away view of the food court mall entrance.
We are back in the mall near JCPenney.
Bath and Body Works closed in January of 2026. Bath and Body Works leaving a mall is never a good sign. It is a trend we are seeing with the chain though, there is a nearby newer store in an outdoor shopping center.
Looking down the corridor from JCPenney to Dillard's.
The JCPenney Mall entrance has some really interesting designs. It is what would have been considered futuristic back in the 80's.
A good look at the Bath and Body Works labelscar. This store was one of the few remaining stores that still carried the natural wood look of the 80's and 90's.
Hot Topic and Buckle.
Some repairs to the flooring were being done while we were here. Work was in progress inside of the barricaded area.
More stores in this section of the mall.
There are a lot of QR codes throughout the mall. Mall management is doing their best to market the mall.
A local radio station has space inside of the mall. Always cool to see alternate uses of old store space.
Finally found a directory without glare.
The corridor in between JCPenney and the food court. Auntie Annies and a lot of stores are down here. It is the liveliest section of the mall.
The corridor opposite of the food court leading to Dillard's.
The food court to the left, Rainbow to the right.
Rainbow is located in the old Forever 21 space.
This space looks like an old Tilt Arcade.
A wide view of the food court area.
Is it just me or do the light fixtures in the food court cast a weird shadow.
Next to what appears to be an old Tilt arcade is this small arcade.
I am a sucker for mall arcades. Even though there is not a whole lot in here.
There were no employees on duty, it was a self-service arcade. Buy a card and load it up. I bought $20 worth of points. Air Hockey and claw machines were our go-to games, and always fun.
The corridor looking towards Dillard's from the outside of the arcade.
We have eaten at this restaurant before, but I could not verify if it is still open. It doesn't look like it is still there. There is nothing behind the counter.
Another food court vacancy.
I really like the design of the food court. The raised seating areas are a plus, you rarely see those in malls these days.
The shadows under the light fixtures once again. I guess they don't use those lights anymore.
The planters behind the seating areas look like they were once fountains. Can anyone confirm or deny this.
Ulta and Versona. Both of these stores seem to have good business, and both were new on our last visit back in 2016.
Habanero, possibly the last food court tenant.
More empty food court spaces.
The area just outside of the food court. This row of stores also has some national brands such as Claires, Lids, JD, and Spencers.
Snipes which used to be Jimmy Jazz.
Didn't pop in this store, but it looked like a good place to shop for young adults.
This store space seems really oddly placed in the center of the hallways and food court. It looks like it was added later in the life of the mall.
I really like the color choices at this mall. Grey, Blue, brown and the lattice style carpet look.
Kiddie games
Easter Bunny setup
This shop will reopen in the middle of July.
Seeing these popping up in dying malls.
More empty storefronts down by Dillard's.
Another storefront being marketed.
A few more store fronts before we head out.
Forever Fitness
Another empty store
As I type my final thoughts about the mall, I am conflicted. Is this a dying mall? I am leaning 50/50. The three anchors obviously draw traffic to the mall. A lot of brand name mall retailers are still here despite the loss of a few in the past 2 years. There have been more losses than gains here. The mall still looks great and clean. Are the losses going to pile up, leading to a dead mall in the next several years? You be the judge. The mall looks great, I really enjoyed walking through the place and checking things out.
Mervyns labelscar
That is all for this post. I hope everyone likes it. Irving Mall is up next!
No comments:
Post a Comment