Well everybody, here is a sad update to the once largest mall in the State of Louisiana. As I clear out my backlog of articles, here is another one from the past. Cortana Mall or Mall at Cortana, is now just a memory. The entire mall was demolished in the first half of 2021. A massive Amazon warehouse now sits on the site of the mall. Here are some photos of the final days of the mall as the final store Dillard's was holding their closing sale. While this was my final visit to the mall, I do have a video in my backlog that was taken in 2018. That footage is really awesome and was taken in the evening at the dead mall. One of these days I will get to editing the footage and putting it up on my Youtube channel.
As many of you know, Moonbeam bought this mall in 2013 when the mall was beginning to struggle. In 2016 the dominos began falling when Macy's closed. Then in 2017 Sears and JCPenney closed, followed by Virginia College closing in 2018, leaving Dillard's as the sole anchor at the huge mall. In September 2019, the mall interior closed. Finally in late 2019, Amazon purchased the majority of the site from Moonbeam for their new warehouse which opened in late 2022. Dillard's held out as long as possible until finally selling off in early 2021. The only piece of the mall that remains today is the Firestone outparcel in front of the former JCPenney. The outcome of this property was a best-case scenario for a Moonbeam mall. Despite the mall failing, the property did not sit vacant for long and was quickly demolished before things deteriorated.
Most of the property was fenced off so I could not get close in many areas. I did my best to park next to the fence and get zoomed in photos as the demolition was happening in real time.
Sears auto center.
The final anchor store Dillard's.
The auto center at the former Godchaux's which had been closed for many years.
Dillard's left side, mall entrance, and JCPenney right side.
JCPenney
Between JCPenney and Sears, the mall corridor was nearly gone.
Sears
The mall corridor up close.
JCPenney and Sears again.
I can't recall what section of the mall is in the background here.
Former Mervyn's and food court remains.
Now we will check out the Dillard's that was in the final weeks of their closing sale.
You really have to appreciate the detail of this anchor store. Designs like this are just not made anymore.
By this time, most of us had stopped worrying about Covid. A year into the pandemic, a lot of businesses had still had signs.
This store which was originally a Godchaux had some really nice features. A lot of Dillard's stores in Southeast Louisiana still have their original features from long-gone anchors such as Godchaux, Maison Blanche, and D.H. Holmes.
About half of the remaining store was barricaded off at this point in the sale. The second floor had been closed off many years ago once this store was converted into a clearance center.
More views of the store. It is difficult to figure out which sections of the store were which after the clearance center took over.
The store closed May 2, 2021.
The centerpiece of the store. This huge chandelier could be seen from throughout the store and well into the mall corridor.
The mall entrance. Get ready for some awesome shots through the glass windows.
One of the last parts of the mall still intact.
Kay Bee Toys and B Dalton still standing at this point. If only the lighting was a bit better!
Some of the fixtures near the mall entrance.
This is about as grand of an entrance as you can get when entering a store through the mall. The chandelier was partially covered up by the store closing signs.
More views of the mall from the other side of the glass.
After moving to the other window, I got the lighting I needed to really see the former Kay Bee Toys. Even though I never visited this store while it was open, I felt a bit more of my childhood fade away knowing this would soon be gone.
More views of the remaining mall corridor.
The wreckage of the mall corridor!
More views of the mall entrance area of the store.
One more shot of the mall corridor as we take one last look before leaving.
This was as close as we could get to the second floor. I wonder what kind of cool stuff they still had up there.
More views of the store as we head out.
I really hope someone saved some of these Godchaux's door handles.
One last look into the store as we leave.
Let's take a walk around the building.
Another look at the Godchaux's auto center.
Once we get to the fence, you can see a good view of the demolition. There is the Sears in the distance.
Another entryway at the Dillard's.
The former Dillard's side mall entrance.
Empty Ruby Tuesday to the left.
A lone Sears basket made it down to this side of the mall.
More to come, stay tuned!
