Riverwalk Marketplace New Orleans Louisiana

The Riverwalk Marketplace is located on the Mississippi River in downtown New Orleans off of Convention Center Blvd. The directory shows how the floor plan is laid out. This mall is essentially three floors that are connected by escalators and elevators. The mall is mostly filled with tourist shops and collectible stores. There are a few national chains that remain here including the GAP, but the mall has lost several of the higher end or corporate chain stores that were here before Hurricane Katrina. The Riverwalk Marketplace has been a success story for over 20 years surviving two disasters. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which did not flood the mall, but shut the mall down for months because there was no power. In 1996 the Bright Freight disaster demolished a huge area of the riverside of the mall. The Riverwalk Mall is still a great place to go and see the river without having to deal with the hot, humid climate of New Orleans. The mall has a new owner, so the property may be on the verge of an update since the mall has not changed in many years. I am pretty sure that this mall opened in 1986. This is one of four malls that opened in New Orleans in the 1980's. Canal Place is small and remains a high end upper class mall with Saks Fifth Avenue. Jackson Brewery only has a handful of shops and food court tenants left and looks to be in trouble. The New Orleans Center did not reopen after Hurricane Katrina and has since been mostly demolished to make way for an entertainment area to compliment New Orleans Saints games. The Riverwalk Marketplace has slipped a bit since the Hurricane but continues to be successful. I have many memories of this mall over the years, and some of the stores like the train shop that used to be there that had a train track over the store.



This is one of the murals throughout the mall about the history of the Mississippi river.



This is the best picture I could get of the lower level of the mall. The lower level is dark and cavernous like the bottom of a ship. Ironically this was the part of the mall that was most severely damaged when a ship lost control in the Mississippi River and hit the mall in December 1996. For more information on this event see this website at http://www.virtualpet.com/bright/news.htm. Check out the multimedia page for pictures of the damage to the mall. This part of the mall has some vacancies, but there is a daiquiri shop and cafe du monde on the river side of the mall.



This is the levee market level in the middle of the mall. This part of the mall has several vacancies as well.






This store is located at the entrance to the food court; not many malls have a Mardi Gras store.



The food court has a few Louisiana outlets and some chain restaurants. I found the prices here to be higher than most food courts. At the end of the food court a Louisiana food and beverage museum occupies a former mini-anchor that I do not recall the name of.



The upper level retail features high ceilings and a view of the river to the south of the mall. There are a few vacancies here, but not too many. There is a Fudgery chocolate shop here that does public shows to promote their products.

Clearview Mall Metairie Louisiana

Clearview Mall has been around since the late 1960's. Sears (2 levels) and Maison Blanche (3 levels) and a small K&B drugstore were the anchors until 1998 when Dillard's bought out Mercantile Stores and they rebranded the store as a Dillard's. Dillard's was closed a few years later and replaced on two of the three levels by Target. K&B closed in 1998 as well when Rite-Aid took over and renamed the entire K&B brand. There was also an A&G cafeteria on the south side of the mall. Clearview Mall is very small, and has survived by adding some big box retail to compliment their small lineup of stores. There is also an AMC movie theater that was added above the mall. Clearview Mall is much more quiet than Lakeside and The Esplanade Malls and that may be the reason this small mall has survived. The only way this mall could be expanded would be to add a second floor. Even though this mall is just down Veterans from the powerful Lakeside Mall; the two anchors are different from Lakeside which has JCPenney, Dillard's, and Macy's. My mother worked here when I was young, so I spent a good deal of time here.

Sorry about the blurriness of the mallmap. I have a new camera phone now, so my next round of articles will be much better.



A couple views of the Sears.




Bed Bath and Beyond and the main mall entrance.



Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, and the main mall entrance.



Target has a mall entrance but you have to turn right here to get to it.



A look at the food court; this was added on in early 2000. There is an escalator to the AMC theaters in front of the food court. This area was the former A&G cafeteria.



Some shots from the interior of the mall. The Bed Bath and Beyond has their entrance in the middle of the mall, but they have taken up some store space in the Sears wing too.

Quick Update Esplanade Mall Kenner Louisiana June 2010

This is an entrance to the Esplanade Mall in Kenner Louisiana. This is a two story mall anchored by Macy's, Dillard's Men, and Dillard's women. Mervyn's was an anchor but they closed several years ago. Not much has changed since my last visit in 2008, but there are several new vacancies. The mall is very much alive and well, but even some of the main parts of the mall have empty stores now.



This former Mervyn's is rumored to be torn down and replaced by a Target. It has been vacant since the beginning of 2006 when Mervyn's left Louisiana. The mall needs to be as aggressive as possible to get this spot filled. The former Mervyn's is aging, and some of the sidewalks appear to be sinking around the building (which is common in the New Orleans area, but a hazard).



Macy's reopened a couple of years ago, but eliminated their third floor. I also found it odd that Macy's put a new sign up and left their old signs intact.

Lake Forest Plaza Revisited June 2010

The beat up Mall sign is the only reminder of the mall that was here. All along I-10 in New Orleans East from Morrison to the I-510 interchange there are empty shopping centers and even a former Six Flags amusement park that have been sitting for five years. With an estimated population of 40,000 in the New Orleans East area many wonder why corporations are not coming back to New Orleans East.



The Lowe's is the only business open; a grocery store or Target here could make a killing.



The Grand Cinema is still vacant; this should have come back by now.



Looking at the site of where the mall was; when will the developers get this site back into commerce. There is no big box retail except for Lowe's and Home Depot that had reopened along I-10.

Schwegmann Plaza New Orleans East

This shopping center at Bullard Rd & I-10 is one of the surprising casualties of the Hurricane. The center was very popular before the Hurricane and at a great location. Only Pep Boys and some of the restaurants have returned to the center. The rest of the center is overgrown with weeds and small trees waiting for a rebirth. Since most of the retail along Read Blvd & I-10 was wiped out by the hurricane I am surprised that this center has not been reopened.

This is the namesake of the shopping center a former Schwegmann supermarket that closed in 1999. This operated as a Sav A Center market until Hurricane Katrina flooded out the site. The back of the center is fenced off to vehicles.



This was where the Big Lots formerly McFrugals operated. There were also some small retail stores in this section of the center.



Circuit City closed before the hurricane.




Toy's R Us another casualty of the Hurricane.



On the outer ring of the center; yet another casualty of Hurricane Katrina the Taco Bell. The Taco Bell was consolidated with the KFC a couple of buildings down saving space. There is also a McDonald's and a buffet on the outer ring that are open.

West Oaks Mall: In trouble?

The vacancies are on the upswing at West Oaks Mall. The Disney store is gone and several other stores have left or have been replaced by independent retailers. The children's area has been moved to the front of the vacant JCPenney. The mall is in a very busy area of Houston and still in great condition, so why is the mall declining?

Dillard's West Oaks is now a clearance store. I wonder if there is room for two clearance stores in Houston?



The nearly empty former Mervyn's/ Steve & Barry's wing. They have put up the research office to block the rest of the empty wing. Some stores have moved to the Macy's & Sears section of the mall and Journey's will be moving there soon as well. The mall may be trying to empty out this entire wing for redevelopment.




Blurry pictures of the food court. This is when my camera started to mess up. Only seven food/ snack outlets are left.

May 26th Update Greenspoint Mall

A view of the entrance sign that greets visitors coming in from Beltway 8.



The former Sears; the labelscars have been painted over. Half of the Sears wing inside of the mall has been sealed off to hide the vacancies.




The former Sears auto center behind the mall.



The faint Montgomery Ward labelscar is visible behind the paint.



The Dillard's clearance center; a faint labelscar in the middle of the photo of the Joske's logo is visible from this angle.



The former JCPenney is nothing more than a shell.