If you know anything about Baton Rouge, then you recognize the name ‘Bon Marche Mall’. The Mall opened in 1960 as an open-air mall on the northwest corner of Lobdell and Florida Blvd which was, back then, a rapidly growing part of Baton Rouge. Anchored by stores like JC Penney, Maison Blanche, DH Holmes and Montgomery Ward, the mall was an incredible success until 1976 when the doors opened at Cortana Mall, about a mile to the east of Bon Marche, at the corner of Florida and Airline. In 1974, during construction of Cortana, Bon Marche expanded and enclosed its facility in an attempt to remain competitive. Unfortunately, JC Penney closed its doors in July of 1976 at Bon Marche and moved over to the new Cortana. In another effort to retain its current business, Bon Marche converted the empty JC Penney building into a movie theater. Even with the addition of the theater, it was evident that Bon Marche’s demise was in full swing, with the newer/bigger/better Cortana lurking  just a mile down the road. It’s possible that in the mid 70s, Baton Rouge could have supported 2 malls, but given the proximity of Cortana to Bon Marche, there was just no way it was going to happen. Baton Rouge was experiencing a rapid expansion to its south and east borders, making the location of Bon Marche less desirable each year. Eventually, Bon Marche found itself located in mid city, among low income apartments and shells of what used to be thriving businesses. The mall lost more and more business to Cortana as the years went by. Maison Blanche pulled out of Bon Marche in the 1980s, DH Holmes was bought out by Dillards in 1989 and lasted until 1999 when it folded along with the movie theater. Woolworth shut its doors in 1995 and Picadilly had already opened its new store across Florida Blvd about a mile to the west. The final blow to the mall was in 2000 when Montgomery Wards closed its doors, taking the entire mall with it.

In 1998 the property was sold to a local company. After the closing of the mall and its growing recognition as an eyesore to the area, the new owners began converting the facility into a technology center. It is now home to several call centers, offices and technology related businesses. Cox Communications occupies the old Montgomery Ward building on the east side of the facility.  The entire facility had a complete upgrade and now resembles something that should be sitting somewhere in a beach front community with its orange colored stucco exterior and numerous palm trees lining the parking lot of the main building.  It has slowly transformed itself from eyesore to asset and appears to be gaining strength and recognition.

The fate of the once thriving Cortana Mall (renamed to the Mall at Cortana) appears to be slowly creeping up on it much in the same way Bon Marche suffered defeat. With the inner city section of Baton Rouge slowly moving eastward and the Mall of Louisiana to the south growing by leaps and bounds, it seems apparent that the Mall at Cortana has a future much like that of Bon Marche, but only time will tell.

We managed to dig up an old television advertisement for Bon Marche Mall. If you are over the age of 30 you should recognize this jingle. I know I sure did!

A few Bon Marche Mall facts:

Lifespan: 1960-1999
The mall was 892,880 sq. ft. and sat on a 65 acre site
The mall underwent a $3 million renovation in 1991
The mall was sold in 1998 for $4 million
Bon Marche, when translated into english, means ‘cheap, inexpensive’

Editors Note: If you have any facts, publications, photographs from Bon Marche Mall that you would like to contribute, please contact us by using the ‘Contact’ link at the top of the page.