Clearview Mall 2012

A little history on the Clearview Mall located at Veterans and Clearview in Metairie. The mall opened up on November 3rd, 1969 with Maison Blanche (3 floors) and Sears (2 floors) as the anchors. Maison Blanche was later taken over by Dillard's, and then became a two story Target after Dillard's closed. The third floor is rumored to be a future condo development. The A and G cafeteria closed and the space was demolished and replaced by a second story Palace movie theater and a first floor food court with more store space. Click here for the current store list. The mall has survived despite being 2 miles away from the powerhouse Lakeside Mall and around 5 miles away from the Esplanade Mall in Kenner. The Clearview Mall has survived by having unique anchors that are not at the other two nearby malls in the area and several sit down restaurant options with the theater all connected by the mall corridors. If the mall had not been repurposed following the departure of Dillard's; the mall may not be here today. Most malls of this size are found only in small towns, and are ususally unable to keep up with any larger nearby malls. Clearview Mall is in between Lakeside Mall and the Esplanade Mall, but the population is dense enough to keep all three malls going.

Here are some vintage photos of the mall from the Times Picayune Website.

Currently the New Orleans area has eight operational enclosed malls.
New Orleans
Canal Place
Riverwalk Marketplace
Jackson Brewery

Terrytown
Oakwood Mall

Metairie
Clearview Mall
Lakeside Mall

Kenner
The Esplanade Mall
(There is also an office mall at 3501 Chateau Blvd. that is connected to a strip shopping center not included with the 8 on my list though).

Slidell
Northshore Square Mall

The malls of the past are
Marrero
Belle Promenade Mall (Demolished and halfway redeveloped with Wal-Mart, Lowes, and a small strip center)

Algiers
Tall Timbers Mall (Mostly vacant)

Harvey
Manhattan Schwegmann Mall (Demolished Best Buy and other big box stores)

New Orleans
Gentilly Woods (Had an enclosed portion, and will be demolished for a new Wal-Mart)
The Lake Forest Plaza Mall (Mostly empty land with a Lowes)
Kenilworth Mall (Conrete Slab)
Uptown Square Mall (Apartments and Offices)
New Orleans Center (Champions Square)

Metairie
Rosedale Mall (Best Buy)
Independance Mall (Now offices and a few restaurants)
Sena Mall (Mall hallway subdivided into store space)
Galleria Mall (Offices took over the AMC theater 8 was the last to leave http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/32766/photos)

I think that covers all of the malls in the metro New Orleans area unless Hammond Square (demolished) in Hammond would be considered metro N.O.
Clearview Mall Opening store list
A and G Cafeteria
Bakers Shoe Store
Casual Village
Clearview Pet Shop
Clothes Horse
Cradle Set
Evelyn's Tall and Stouts
Gryder Shoes
Hausmann's Jewelers
Katz and Besthoff Drugs
Leo's House of Ties
Merle Norman Cosmetics
National Shirt Shop
Ponsetti's Buster Brown Shoes
Russell Stover Candies
Schmachers
Schwobilt
Singer
Swiss Colony
Walden Book Store
Zale's Jewelry
Size 5,7,9

Opened a short time later
Browze A Bit
First National Bank of Jefferson
Gus Mayer
Joyce Bertram
Lady Oris Hosiery
Olan Mills
Stuarts

The Sears corridor facing the center court

The center court corridor of the mall. Sears and the food court are to the left and Target is to the right.

The next two photos are from the Target corridor facing the center court.

The center court skylight

Center court facing Sears

Some photos of the newer section of the mall with the food court.

The food court

Back to the Sears corridor

Dollar tree has pulled out of most malls, but this one still thrives.

Lakeside Shopping Center Mall 2012 Metairie LA

Lakeside Mall opened in the early 1960's in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie LA. This mall has been covered in greater detail in several articles from Labelscar and The Mall Hall of Fame. Lakeside is the busiest mall in New Orleans and features upscale, chain stores, and a few local stores. The mall site also has several big box retailers including Dick's sporting goods. The mall is located at the busiest intersection in the New Orleans area at the corner of Veterans and Causeway Blvd. The reason the mall has not grown larger is because of the lack of available land around the mall. Parking can be a hassle, but there are several parking garages that have helped to increase the parking capacity. Lakeside is well positioned to thrive for many more years to come.

These reflective mall directories are very difficult to get a good photo of. To get a better idea of the mall setup check out the mall website.

This parking garage makes it difficult to get a good photo of this portion of the mall. The former entrance to K and B was to the right of the food court sign.

JCPenney's was once in a much smaller location within the original mall. This store has two shopping levels and a third level for storage and offices.

Dillard's has been upgraded and does not look anything like the DH Holmes that was here for many years before Dillard's took over.

Macy's is a newcomer to the mall opening in 2008.

A view of the main mall concourse with the huge skylight.

This is the "PF Changs" wing facing towards Macy's. The stairs go to the small second level of the mall.

The second floor of the mall is very small and leads to the mall offices, and a few small businesses mostly offices.

An example of one of the small fountains that are located in several parts of the mall.

Macy's was a great addition to the mall. If Nordstrom were to build a store in the New Orleans area this would be the mall they would locate to.

The main mall concourse facing the Food Court and the mall. To the left is where the mall entrance to the K and B was located.

JCPenney

Cafe Du Monde to the left with an example of the mirrored ceilings found throughout the mall.

Dillard's was originally a DH Holmes store.

The center court skylight.

The food court has several restaurants and a Radio Shack.