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Alexandria Mall

Alexandria Mall is a shopping mall located in Alexandria, Louisiana, United States. It features Dillard's, JCPenney and Michaels as anchor stores.[2]

Alexandria Mall
Map
LocationAlexandria, Louisiana, U.S.
Coordinates31°16′39″N 92°27′41″W / 31.27750°N 92.46139°W / 31.27750; -92.46139
Opening dateAugust 1, 1973
DeveloperPaul Broadhead[1]
ManagementJones Lang LaSalle
No. of stores and services80
No. of anchor tenants7 (4 open, 3 vacant)
Total retail floor area869,012 sq ft (80,733.9 m2)
No. of floors1
Parking4800 spaces
Websitealexandriamall.com
[2][3]

Mall history

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In March 1972, Buddy Tudor's family-owned construction company from Pineville began construction of Alexandria Mall. The mall opened its doors on August 1, 1973 with over 30 stores, spanning nearly 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) in total. It featured national department stores JCPenney and Sears (both of which replaced preexisting locations in Alexandria), regional chain Bealls (later Beall-Ladymon), based in Shreveport, Louisiana, and local department stores Weiss & Goldring, Gus Kaplan (later Green's) and Wellan's as anchors. Other original tenants included Piccadilly Cafeteria, Peoples Shoes, Lerner Shops and a two-screen cinema run by General Cinema Corporation.[4][5]

In August 1986, an expansion to the mall was completed that doubled its size to 869,732 sq ft (80,800.7 m2) and added 56 additional stores, including the department stores Dillard's and Mervyn's (the latter of which opened that October due to a delay in construction), and a food court dubbed "The Market Place". Concurrently, portions of the existing mall were renovated, and the two-screen cinema was replaced with a six-screen multiplex on the mall's periphery.[6][7][8] In honor of the mall's expansion, local pizza chefs cooked a 650-pound (290 kg) pizza.[9]

In July 1989, Wellan's closed after failing to pay rent for seven months; the Alexandria Mall store was the chain's last remaining location.[10] In 1994, Beall-Ladymon was acquired by Stage Stores and renamed to Stage. In November of that year, a renovation of the Sears wing of the mall and its entrance was completed, and part of the former Wellan's became a Sam Goody store;[11] Stein Mart filled the remainder of the space in October 1995.[12]

In February 2001, General Growth Properties (GGP) took over leasing and management of the mall.[13] It was then sold to J. Herzog Properties of Denver, Colorado in 2004, with GGP retaining its management role.[14] Mervyn's closed in January 2006,[15] followed soon by the closure of Stein Mart on April 30.[16] In March 2007, Burlington Coat Factory opened in the former Mervyn's location,[17] while Weiss & Goldring relocated outside the mall into a former Firestone tire center that was converted into a strip mall.[18] Bed Bath & Beyond opened in 2008 in the previous location of Weiss & Goldring, and the former Stein Mart became a children's play place called Slinkee's.

GGP handed over management of the mall to Jones Lang LaSalle in 2010.[19] Both Slinkee's and the neighboring Lagniappe Theater Company had their leases terminated on September 29, 2015, as the mall was under negotiations to convert their spaces into a Conn's store, which opened on February 13, 2016.[20][21]

In September 2018, Sears closed as part of the chain's plan to close 72 stores nationwide.[22] Stage closed in early 2019. Bed Bath & Beyond closed in March 2023,[23] and Michaels opened in its place later that year.[24] In fall 2024, Burlington Coat Factory moved to the nearby MacArthur Village shopping center, and Conn's closed as part of the chain's bankruptcy proceedings.[25][26]

References

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  1. ^ "Location Billboard Erected At Site of Alexandria Mall". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. October 22, 1971. pp. A-5. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b "Alexandria Mall".
  3. ^ Alexandria Mall Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, International Council of Shopping Centers. Accessed July 30, 2007.
  4. ^ "Alexandria Mall Complex to Open Wednesday". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. July 31, 1973. pp. B-1. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Lerner Shop Is 434th In Nation". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. July 31, 1973. pp. B-3. Retrieved November 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Ryman, Rich (August 13, 1986). "44 New Alexandria Mall Stores Set to Open Today". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. pp. D-1. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Ryman, Rich (April 17, 1985). "Mall Expansion, Renovation Work To Begin May 1". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. pp. D-1. Retrieved October 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Robichaux, Mark (July 23, 1986). "New Mall Section Opens in 3 Weeks". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. pp. D-1. Retrieved November 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Alexandria chefs make 650-pound pizza". Baton Rouge Advocate. 1986-08-18. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  10. ^ Ryman, Richard L. (July 27, 1989). "Wellan's shuts doors on last store". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. pp. A-1–A-2. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Alexandria getting 7 new stores". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. October 15, 1994. pp. B-8. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Watson, Mark (September 13, 1995). "Stein Mart opening new location in Mall". Alexandria Daily Town Talk. pp. B-8. Retrieved October 23, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Ruda, Mark (February 5, 2001). "General Growth Properties Wins 14-Mall Management Contract". GlobeSt. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  14. ^ "Mall portfolio goes to 3 buyers". FindArticles.com. 2004. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  15. ^ Bonnette, Tom (August 8, 2006). "Burlington Coat Factory coming to Alexandria Mall by the fall". Alexandria Town Talk. pp. B6. Retrieved November 12, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Bonnette, Tom (January 11, 2006). "Stein Mart to close store in mall". Alexandria Town Talk. pp. A1. Retrieved November 12, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Bonnette, Tom (March 6, 2007). "Shoppers flock to newly opened Burlington Coat Factory in mall". Alexandria Town Talk. pp. B6. Retrieved November 12, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Bonnette, Tom (March 28, 2007). "Weiss & Goldring going outside Mall". Alexandria Town Talk. pp. A1. Retrieved November 12, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Jones Lang LaSalle strikes mall deal with General Growth Properties". American City Business Journals. July 12, 2010.
  20. ^ Klein, Miranda (October 10, 2015). "Slinkee's, Lagniappe move out; new retailers to move in mall". Alexandria Town Talk. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  21. ^ Klein, Miranda (February 13, 2016). "Conn's is now open in the Alexandria Mall". Alexandria Town Talk. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  22. ^ "Sears at Alexandria Mall expected to close". www.kalb.com. May 31, 2018.
  23. ^ "Alexandria Bed Bath & Beyond location to close in March". www.kalb.com. January 5, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  24. ^ "Michaels store opening in Alexandria Mall". www.kalb.com. August 14, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  25. ^ Martinez, Melinda (July 23, 2024). "Burlington to move from Alexandria Mall to MacArthur Village". Alexandria Town Talk. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  26. ^ Walrath-Holdridge, Mary; Hauari, Gabe (August 1, 2024). "Conn's HomePlus now closing all stores: See the full list of locations". USA Today. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
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