Jamie from Louisiana alerted us to some news with the Louisiana’s Hammond Square Mall, which closed for good yesterday, March 31st. The 430,000 square foot mall, which opened in 1976 in Hammond, a college town about 45 minutes northwest of New Orleans, is being shut to make way for a 800,000 square foot lifestyle-power center combo to be built in its place. Before taking one last swing by Hammond Square for these rather day-glo pictures the other day, Jamie emailed us to share some history:
“The mall was owned by Sizeler Properties of Kenner LA, which I believe was recently bought out. They still own 2 other small malls in southern Louisiana: Northshore Square in Slidell and Southland Mall in Houma. They recently sold the Hammond property to another company, I believe the name is Palace Properties. The new company has teamed up with Stirling Properties of Covington, LA to redevelop the mall. Stirling has been very successful with big retail sites in neighboring St Tammany Parish. This Sizeler property brochure PDF file has all three of these malls listed with area shots of them.
I frequented the mall a lot when I was a student at SLU to kill time in between classes and browse the B.Dalton Bookseller, Sound Shop and KB Toys. And then I ate lunch at the Chick-Fil-A all the time, which was a real treat! And KSLU radio station was also located in the mall.”
“Hammond Square Mall opened in 1976 with 3 anchors Sears, JCPenney and D.H. Holmes (the old New Orleans based department store). The Holmes became Dillard’s in 1989 when the chain sold. Dillard’s and Sears are the only anchors left, but the new development is bringing JCPenney back along with Target. I don’t believe the mall has changed much at all on inside and out. The last time I was there was maybe 5 or 6 years ago, and from what I remember it was still all brown on the inside, typical of 70’s malls. It is very small and called a square because basically that is what is. It is a 3 level square surrounded by the 3 anchors. The bottom level was very small, would have made a good food court, but this old mall never had a food court. It was kind of like a hole in the ground. But I thought it was real cool. And the main entrance has like 10 or 15 steps leading up to the entrance, which is the second level of the mall. In Louisiana you typically do not build in the ground, like a basement, so I believe the second level of the center of the mall was built up and then the bottom level was a small section in the middle of the square. And there was escalators on the the 2 of the ends of mall to lead up to the 3rd level. I guess you could say a very unique design.
“Hammond Square always seemed to have a reputation as being a lame, boring place. It had a few stores, but there never seem to be anything in it that was too hip. And it was just never given an attention by owners. The other 2 properties that Sizeler owns are thriving. Southland mall is 37 years old and booming! But Hammond Square just never could find a niche, or a place, I just don’t know. I actually has the best location, almost exactly in between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Maybe that was the problem, not quite far enough from the big cities. Although after Hurricane Katrina, some business used the empty space for office, and it kinda had a small little boom, but not necessarily in retail.
“I remember when I was going to college, Hammond Square had a few of the typical mall stores many malls have. They had 3 Foot Lockers, with the Lady Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker. Of course Radio Shack. The Limited, Payless Shoe Source, K&B Drugs (now Rite Aid), Corn Dog Plus, Morrison’s Cafeteria, as well as the others I mentioned before. And of course they had a twin cinema up until 1999 when the palace theatre, a 10 screen megaplex opened right behing the mall. I can’t remember what else right off hand. Last time I was there they also had a Cuco’s mexican restaurant.
“According to articles in the papers, demolition has already begun on the former JCpenney and that all shops had until March 31st to vacate. And that Dillards and Sears will remain open during construction of the new center. Articles also state that most shops have left. There was many local stores in the mall only a few chains were left, since the mall has been dying a slow death in the last 5 years, most of the big chains have already been gone.
I even found something very interesting when I did a Google search on the mall. There is actually on online petition to save the mall! Also the local paper in Hammond, the Daily Star, started a blog back in May when the announcement was made about the redevelopment of the mall, asking for input from the community about what stores should be in the new mall. The most popular requests seemed to be Abercrombie and Fitch, Hot Topic, Old Navy, Gap, American Eagle. Obviously reflecting the presence of a university in the town. As well as a supermarket or making the Target a Super Target.”
Thanks for the information and these great photos, Jamie! Jamie commented that he may be sending some more pictures, so keep an eye on this space! We may be adding to it as we receive more.
UPDATE 4/4/07: Jamie was so thrilled to see that we’re real people who actually check our e-mails that he dumped the entire contents of his camera phone into an email and sent it to us. Good for us, since the ‘neon mall’ is really the sight to behold; that first set of pictures only scratches the surface! Enjoy, and remember that submissions like these are always welcome at Labelscar. If we don’t post it up right away, fear not–we will.
It’s a mall from an outer-realm!
Now this is a bizarre looking one. Multi-colored walls (really dig that blue), oddly placed dividers, groovin’ planters, crop circle shaped carpeting and other strangely colored flooring makes it look something like an art experiment thrown onto a mall scape. I like it!
Sad to see it go, really. It’s an outliar, but an interesting turn to see what’s become of some of these distressed and left behind centers. Bristol Centre Mall in Connecticut also had it’s tenants shut out on March 31st of 2006 (but they didn’t lock it up for months later).
It’s got more flare than most malls that get to survive. At least we know malls don’t get a pass these days for asthetics. So why can’t more whitewashed/sterile centers get some fancy paints to give it a little boost?
This is a much more worthy place for preservation than Lauderhill. The ugly dark wood, the wierd patterned flooring, now that’s 70s kitsch! I half expected to see J. Riggings or an Orange Julius. The red, blue, and purple accent walls look like a cheap makeover done by a colorblind decorator–deep colors and “accent walls” were 90s kitsch–you could replace them with ugly striped patterns with lots of brown and it would really look like the 70s.
I went there over the weekend and toured the mall on what turned out to be its last day in business, Sat. 3/31/07. Of the stores which weren’t already closed, most were being cleared out and stripped of anything of value by their tenants right then and there. Some were having a “mall closing sale” which meant everything must go, even the fixtures and shelving. A very few stores were open for business, including Cucos (which will close for the duration until the new development is completed), Rite Aid (which will remain open as the mall goes down around it), and the department stores. The vacant Penney’s has already been demolished and is now a rubble pile. Frankly I personally had never seen anything like it as malls don’t close very often around here.
It is sad to see this mall go due to its obvious historical value for mall scholars such as myself, not to mention its unique internal layout. This was not a truly dead mall as a large number of the tenants were national chains and the like. I believe it utlimately fell victim to the lifestyle craze, the decline in malls in general, and its own dated decor.
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t the TV show In the Heat of the Night film a scene here once… It looks a lot like a mall they featured in one of the first seasons and I know the series was filmed in Hammond for a time.
I’ve never seen anything exactly like this place. The whole design takes some typical elements and mixes them together in a unique way. It’s half-mall-half-game-show-set.
That Zales Jewelers visible in the first photo looks awfully new (About 5 years old). I wonder why Zales invested that much money in a dying mall. Could they have had hope for this mall? The world may never know.
I was shocked when I saw the article about this mall last year. It is located in a great location and the town of Hammond has seen a huge boom since the hurricane. With the uncomfortably hot and humid weather in southeast Louisiana I wonder why this mall closed and is being redeveloped as an open air center. At least Oakwood Mall (Burned down by looters after Katrina) in New Orleans is being rebuilt as a real mall and not a crappy lifestyle center.
It’s a shame to see it go down to rubble like many other malls of the past. This is one of those types of malls that could’ve been renovated. Being that it was built in 1976, it could’ve easily survived if it was brought back to life in the form of new stores, some entertainment thrown in since it’s a college town and even a food court since someone mentioned that it lacked one. I don’t think malls are dying as a whole, but I think too many good ones are being demolished in favor for the typical lifestyle center that will certainly get old before we know it.
Wow @ the Dillard’s court. Great photoset; and such a unique looking, colorful mall with lots of vestigial charm. If anything, I’d hope most of us wouldn’t poo-poo this place. I think it was abducted by alien mind set. Again, real shame it will be crippled by the heanous lifestyle plague… Shame shame shame…
I have lived in Hammond for most of my life and I for one am EXCITED that the mall is getting a major face lift. When i was in high school we would hang out at the mall and honestly it sucked. I would rather go to the mall of Louisiana because it had more stores to shop in. I mean hell we lost JCPenneys when the new target was built in covington and that mall has seen stores come and go we also lost kbtoys so I say thank goodness we are getting a new look and new stores and im glad alot of the stores that were in the mall are staying too.
I LOVE the color scheme of this mall so much!
Sad to see it’s turning into another boring lifestyle center, the existing design of this mall, and of course the color scheme of this place, has so much charm. I so wish this mall would just instead add a lifestyle component on the exterior(if they MUST have one so badly, *sighs*….) and keep the existing interior mall(like I’ve heard many malls have decided to do across the country with recent renovations, a la Lincoln Mall in Matteson, IL, and etc…), instead of wastefully demolishing the whole mall. It really seems like another mall where if they could’ve added just a few tenants to the mix of stores here that this mall didn’t have, they could’ve easily turned around the fortunes of this mall.
BTW, it’s interesting(and refreshing) to hear that Oakwood Mall is being rebuilt as an ACTUAL indoor mall, and not getting lifestyled(like so many malls, such as this one, became and/or becoming).
I wanted to add some more comments about Hammond Square Mall since my farewell visits. After walking through the mall several times, I realized that HS was not as small as I had always thought. I never walked around the entire mall much because the stores I usually went to were in one wing. Even back in the late 80’s, I remember their being a lot of empty space. There was always plenty of space available for cool stores that it never had. The bottom level would have made a great food court. And then I was thinking how nice this mall probably was when it first opened in 1976 and was most likely, nearly 100% occupied with all the latest stores. I never realized how nice the design of the main entrance was. When you walk in the main entrance, you could walk to what I guess would be a center court that has sets of staircases, kind of criss crossing, one set going up to the top level, and another set going down to the bottom level with skylights right above all of this. And an elevator in the middle of the center court that went to all 3 levels. All of this formed a very attractive pattern looking from a distance in other parts of the mall and when first entering. But if you wanted to, you could take the set of escalaters at the very front entrance, just before you get to the center court. Just like the stairs, one going to the top level and one going to the bottom level. There were the unique combination of escalators and stairscases at the 3 corner of the mall leading to the anchors. No more escalators or stairscases now, all of this coolness being destroyed for another cookie cutter, boring outdoor lifestyle center, a complete and total shame when this mall could have been saved with a total remodel/renovation and new fresh mix of stores and eateries.
In it’s 30 plus years, Hammond Square seemed to be slammed by many retail establishments being built in neighboring St. Tammany parish(county). Northshore Square, a slightly larger 600,000 square foot mall opened in 1985 in the city of Slidell, an affluent New Orleans northshore suburb in St. Tammany parish about 35 miles east of Hammond. A single level mall with 4 anchors: Sears, JCPenney, D.H. Holmes(same as HS) and Mervyns(closed in 2006 along with the other 5 Louisiana stores), five years later Maison Blanche(another former New Orleans based department store, sold to Mercantile Stores in 1992, and then Dillards in 1998) became a fifth anchor. The shiny new modern 80’s mall had bright colors, all the latest “cool” stores, 5 anchors and a food court. All the things Hammond Square never had. So now there was 2 malls on the northshore along interstate 12! One that was almost 10 years old, and looked it, and a shiny new one filled with stores that HS did not have. In later years, several big box retailers located near Northshore Square. Northshore Square may have also helped kill off the huge Lake Forest Plaza Mall in New Orleans East(see the other Louisiana post). Demographics may have also played a role in Hammond Square’s troubles. Slidell and St Tammany Parish(county) was really booming in the 1970’s and 1980’s with so many people from New Orleans moving to the north of Lake Ponchartrain to get away from the big city, taking with them affluence, education and money. Where as Hammond and Tangipahoa parish, despite the presence of a small but ever growing Southeastern Louisiana University in town, had more rural middle class people who typically had less affluence, education and income. And then in 1999 the Premier Centre, a 300,000 square foot open-air/lifestyle center, Louisiana’s first, opened in Mandeville(another St Tammany city about 22 miles east). Premier Centre was anchored by Stien Mart, TJMaxx, Delchamps, and had such big mall stores staples as Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle, Victoria’s Secret, Ann Taylor Loft, Bombay Company, Old Navy, along with big box stores and restaurants. And finally, in 2004 a brand new shopping center(not a mall,or even a lifestyle center) anchored by Target, JCPenney and Louisiana’s first Belk open just a stones throw away 17 miles east of Hammond, on La Hwy 21 interchange on I-12, near Covington(another St Tammany city). This ultimately lead to the closure of the older, outdated Hammond Square location of JCPenney, causing the loss of an anchor. During all of this new retail activity in St Tammany, Hammond Square was being left out in the cold and being ignored by so many major retailers. There are plans for even more big retail on the I-12 corrider! Another center at the La hwy 21 interchange in St Tammany, Pinnacle Nord Du Lac, is being developed by Colonial Properties Trust. At 1 million square feet, it is being called an “upscale” lifestyle center that has been in the works for 2 years with announced tenants so far being Dillards, Kohls, Williams-Sonoma, Pei Wei and Panera Bread. And about 25 miles west of Hammond, close to Baton Rouge, in Livingston parish, near the city of Denham Springs, plans were just anounced last December for Juban Crossing. Being developed by Creekstone Companies and Jim Wilson & Associates(original Mall of Louisiana developer), it is going to be a 470 acre site with 1,100 homes, medical and office space, all fronted by an 800,000 square foot lifestyle center and 400,000 square foot power center, so far Dillards is the only announced tenant. Macys is rumored to be a tenant in both these new centers. These two new developments, along with the revamped Hammond Square, is scheduled to open in phases throughout 2008.
Although shoppers still had to go to New Orleans/Metairie/Kenner, Baton Rouge or Slidell/Mandeville/Covington to shop their malls/shopping centers for things you could not find at Hammond Square, it did hang in throughout all these years as a kind of second tier mall for the region, with a smaller, less “hip” mix of stores and eateries. I believe the new development will up the ante for Hammond Square. And obviously developers believe there is enough population to sustain so much new retail in one region. This is the second mall in south Louisiana to face the wrecking ball this year, with The Plaza in New Orleans being the the first back in February. Both malls being built in the mid 70’s indoor mall boom, are now being demolished to jump on board of the new open-air/lifestyle craze so shoppers can simmer in this Louisiana heat, what a shame. It was so surreal when I walked out of the front entrance for the last time, knowing I will never see anything like this again. It is the end of an era.
I have some exterior photos of this mall (which remains standing 3 months after closing), taken this past Sunday, if you are interested. How do I send them to you?
If you haven’t already you can send them to either one of our E-Mail addresses. jason.damas@gmail.com or raschendel@wisc.edu. Thanks!
It’s sad to see this one go, but honestly, anybody who set foot in that mall in the past ten years could tell which way it was heading. It had an interesting multi-floor layout (which was strange considering there wasn’t a single escalator in the mall commons), and the GameTrader was always stocked to the gills with obscure and ancient games and stuff I could never get my hands on in Baton Rouge.
Awesome!
I passed by this mall. Dillards was still open, but the mall had not yet been demolished…
I recently passed by Hammond Square also and the Dillards as well as the Sears and Rite Aid are still open. A recent article in the Hammond Star stated that all three stores had placed banners hanging outside there prospective stores proclaiming still open. Another interesting fact in the article was that demolition of the mall was taking more time because the Dillards, Sears, Rite Aid and the mall are all connected with the same water, sewer and air conditioning. And disconnecting the 3 stores has been a challenging task. And also that the JCPenney was built 3 years later as an addition after the mall opened in 1976, and had it’s own separate air conditioning. The former JCPenney has been completely demolished and the rubble gone for months now.
Here is an article from the Hammond Daily Star from June. It is called “The saga of Hammond Square”. It seems this mall was always been controversial in some way or another. This article talks a little about HS’s history, and reveals some more interesting facts about it, as well as supports some of the comments that I made in my initial posting about the mall and after that. Also I have many more interior photos than the ones posted here. If anyone would like to see them, just post a comment here with your email and I will send them to you as soon as possible. Here is the article:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2007/07/29/top_stories/business/9870.txt
Darn those lifestyle center developers! The mall could have easily been saved if someone had a little more creative energy. The mall could have doubled in size, and so on. Old Navy could have taken up old storefronts, and many other items. Heck, I would have taken “The Shops at Hammond Square” and a remodel ridding the mall of its ’70s kitsch if meant the enclosed mall could be saved.
The dark reds, greens, and purples were DEFINITELY 1990s. Try watching the movie “Hackers” (made in 1995) for that same kind of (disoriented?) feeling.
Picture 10 doesn’t work! Waah!
You are so right about Hammond Square Jonah! If there was no such thing as a lifestyle centers(blah) this mall could have been totally remodeled with new floors, walls, and birght modern colors along with cool, fresh mix of stores(Gap, Old Navy, American Eagle, Hollister Co, PacSun, Aeropostale, Jouneys, Spencer Gifts, Disney Store, Hot Topic, Forever 21, Limited Too, Aldo, Victoria’s Secret, Express, Children’s Place, Sunglasses Hut, Gymboree, Kirklands, 5-7-9, Charlotte Russe, Body Shop, Wet Seal, well you get the idea) and be a great MALL! And I mean a mall, not …. shopping center, or the shops at …, or the village of….., but Hammond Square Mall. And thanks for mentioning it on your blog too Jonah. I have so many more pics of the inside to show all the crazy colors, if you want them, please email me at jbgonz@hotmail.com and I will send them. All those wild colors and those colorful carpets were added in like 2000 or 2001 in a last ditch effort to revive the mall, and then the name was changed to the Village at Hammond Square. But the only problem is, it came out looking only half finished, and then they did not bother to put down a new floor. A real half hearted attempt if you ask me. I would say it was not even a half freshening up, more like a one third or one fourth of a freshing up. But it did give us some crazy color schemes to enjoy.:)
Has the redevelopment started yet? Internets turn up nothing on any “Hammond Square” that we haven’t heard before. No new demolition news…what if it calls quits? What if the mall reopens as a “hybridized freak from Planet Lifestyle”, the ones with a decent enclosed part, but some lifestyle center in it?
Here are some links of the latest news I have found on the new center. It seems to be taking forever to get the demolition done on the old mall and Stirling Properties seems to be very hush, hush about what stores will be there except for the 2 new anchors, Target and JCPenney, which have been announced. The Home Depot has pulled out of the project, it seems they are cutting down on new store openings and have dropped plans for a Hammond store. But I am sure the rest of the project is going through as planned. I will get out there one afternoon and see if there is any progress in the demolition and maybe take some picutres too.
Link from the Hammond Daily Star about the demolition, which has begun, and the about the new JCPenney being scheduled to open on Ocotober 1, 2008.
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2007/11/04/top_stories/9487.txt
Link from the Hammond Daily Star about The Home Depot deciding not to build a store at the new center:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2007/08/17/top_stories/business/9825.txt
Here is some more info on the new Hammond Square:
http://stirlingprop.catylist.com/files/property/850000/858517/1780745_06-355_V17_InUSE.pdf
A pdf file from Stirling Properties’ website with the site plan. It is definitely going to be an open air lifestyle center, that is for sure(yuck!), oh well(sighs). There is a 25,000 square foot expansion of Dillards. If you enlarge the pdf file and move your curser over the drawing, you can read the name of several stores and restaurants listed in the drawing. This is an updated site plan, I had seen this same page several months back and there are now many new stores listed and two that are no longer there, TJMaxx and of course The Home Depot. The new stores must be tenants that Stirling Properties is in tentative agreements with to open in the new Hammond Square. But I would not count on any of these stores being definite, since there has not been an official press release from Stirling Properties about what stores will be in the new shopping center. It is a very impressive list, I hope most of these are definite. Here are the store names I could make out from the pdf file:
Returning Stores:
New York And Company
GNC
Bath And Body Works
Hibbett Sports
Footlocker
Zales Jeweler
New Stores:
Old Navy
Kirkland’s
Dress Barn
Maurice’s
Victoria’s Secret
Aeropostale
American Eagle Outfitters
Lane Bryant
Rue 21
Mignon Faget
Paris Parker
Ann Taylor Loft
Gordon’s Jewelers
Ban Soleil
Bed Bath And Beyond
Best Buy
New restaurants:
Outback Steakhouse
Ruby Tuesday
Great American Cookie
Starbucks
Portobello’s
Tymes Grill
Hope all this is helpful on what is going on with the new Hammond Square, and hopefully Stirling Properties will make an announcement soon to confirm what stores will be in the new center. I am sure the Hammond area miss there mall and can’t wait for the new one to be open.
Doesn’t look very walkable-friendly, but at least it’s not the plan where the strip mall portion is on the left and the main mall between Sears and Dillard’s is a parking lot.
Hard to say just yet about walkable-freindly it will be. Hopefully there will be some covered walkways in front of the shops that line the anchors.
I found the pdf file of the prevous site plan. This is the older one and it is in color which makes it easier to see. The Home Depot and TJMaxx are on this rendering. On the upper left side of the picture above the cinema is another big box store that says sporting goods and a strip of shops just below that. This is not in the updated site plan, and will probably open in another phase and will be Academy Sports. Here is the link:
http://www.stirlingprop.com/uploads/HammondSitePlan.pdf
And one more link of a 6 page epackage from Stirling. There is an updated aerial photo on page 4 with the trees cleared behind the mall, but the mall is still intact in this photo, but it is an updated photo. There was a previous aerial photo that still had the JCPenney anchor. There is also a 2 renderings of the center, including a new Dillard’s facade. Here is the link:
http://stirlingprop.catylist.com/files/property/850000/858517/1782400_HammondSquare_ePackageOct2007.PDF
All of this can be found at http://www.stirlingprop.com. Well that is all for now. Hopefully by the fall some portions of the new center will be open for business. I know the people of the Hammond are tired of driving to Baton Rouge, Covington and Mandeville to shop.
The two-story Sears will probably be big-boxedized and add a Vermaport to carry shopping carts. It makes me wonder how the shopping carts work in bigbox power centers. I’m sure it’s not like the New England “shopping cart slave trade” as XISMZERO famously described it.
What’s a Vermaport?
The Sears in Hammond Square is a 1 level store. Just the main mall concourse was 2 level. Are you talking about another mall? And what is a Vermaport?
Ah! Once again, I screw up in writing. That last line should read “What’s a Vermaport? Look it up on Wikipedia!”
Yeah, Vermaports carry carts, often found in 2-story Targets. The one-story Sears also explains why Rite-Aid doesn’t have another store stacked on top of it (and thus, why Rite-Aid’s building isn’t leveled)
I’m a bit confused on the floorplan of this mall. At first glance it appears to be a “T” shaped structure with anchors on every end. But then there’s these weird escalators and crazy stairs near the basement level and Dillard’s…can anyone explain? (or better yet, draw a picture?)
And also, has anyone maybe driven by and gotten demolition pictures?
I tried to post the comment at one time at would never post. So I will try again and will send it in 2 parts. This is too Jonah who wanted some more detail on the floorplan of Hammond Square. Here is part one:
The comment I posted from April 14 I describe in some detail how the entrance and shape of the mall looks. I know this mall like the back of my hand, I spent a lot of time there, but I am terrible at describing things, but I will try again to describe the design and floorplan. It is such a unique design with so many stairways here and there, almost confusing, that it is hard to describe. I guess the best way to describe it is a stubby, short W layout, because it is not really a dumbell shape. Well here goes with a little more detail:
The main mall building is a 2 level, almost square shape structure, with a small third level underneath the middle of the square, and one small protruding section in the middle that goes north to the JCPenney anchor, this wing was 1 level. Just think of 2 short, straight mall corriders stacked on top of each other, with a small bottom level in the very middle that functioned as a commons area with tables, however all 3 anchors were 1 level stores. In this commons area there was a few spaces for stores and more specifically for eateries. At the 2 ends of the mall leading to the Sears and Dillards there is an UP escalator ONLY leading to the second floor of the square so that you can go up to the second floor as you exit the department stores. A set of stairs is right next to the up escalator, there was not a DOWN escalator leading to the anchors at these 2 entrances. These photos:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-14.jpg
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammondsquare34.jpg
The best way to describe the rest of the mall is to describe walking through it. With the help of some of the pictures:
Enter the main front entrance facing SW Railroad Ave(U.S. Hwy 51), and the first thing you is a small sky walk running through the center of the mall, and to the right of the sky walk is a set of escalaters, one going down to the very small bottom(3rd) level and one going up to the top level. If you walk on the sky walk you can look down and see the “commons” area beneath and look up and see the top level, and for the most part you can glance through the entire mall at this point because it had very short corriders. Above the sky walk is some lattice iron work with several skylights. There was an elavator in the very middle next to the sky walk that went to all 3 levels. Walk straight through the sky walk and you will be lead to a staircase going up left and one going down right, making a sort of Y shape. This photo:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-13.jpg
Main entrance:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-33.jpg
The elevator:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-30.jpg
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-21.jpg
Escalators at main entrance:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-09.jpg
The 3rd level underneath the sky walk:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-11.jpg
I will post part 2 tomorrow. 🙂
This is part 2:
Enter the main entrance and go up the escalator to the top level and make a left to head towards Dillards, and you will walk through the short corrider of stores. Then you will get to an escalator going up and a set of stairs. Go down the stairs, to your left is a storefront, to your right another short corrider, walk down the corrider that is now a 1 level. On the right side taking up almost this entire corrider is Cucos Border Cafe. To your left is a big empty wall. leading to one of the 2 back entrances of the mall. At this entrance is the former twin cinema entrance, which was an arcade right before the mall closed.
This is the empty store front to the left of Dillards entrance, does anyone know what this store might have been?
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammondsquare29.jpg
The Cucos Border Cafe wing
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-12.jpg
Enter the main entrance and take the up escalator and turn right to Sears. Walk through this corrider, it is exactly the the same as the other wing, except that when you walked down the stairs from the 2nd floor there was the Rite-Aid to your right and another corrider to your left, just like on the other end. This corrider is 1 level also, the only difference is that there was nothing here, just a long hall to the back entrance. There were no store fronts on this corrider, at least none when I was last there. There may have been some in past years. This photo:
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammond-square-32.jpg
Enter the main entrance and take the sky walk to the down staircase and head straight and you will be going to the JCPenney anchor, it was connected to the small protruding section north of the main square. There was no escalator to the JCPenney, probably because it was added 3 years after the mall opened in 1976. I did not submit any pictures of this wing but I do have some if anyone is interested.
The last time I was there and shot some of these photos was on thursday and the mall closed the following saturday March 31, 2007. I was surprised to see all escalators were running and the the elevator as well on that day. I have better pictures of the main entrance and other wings, as well as the former movie theater. If anyone wants them just email at jbgonz@hotmail.com. Hope this was helpful or did it completely confuse?
I do think I understand Hammond Square better.
However: I have just spent the last 30 minutes searching through HammondStar.com’s online archives (1997 through 2002) about the mall renovating (the Village at Hammond Square, the flags, etc.) but could not find anything. Do you know where I could find some more information on the subject?
I finally shot some pictures of the demolition of Hammond Square. Demolation has started and is in progress. It appears to be about half way demolished. I have made a flickr album to share all the photos I shot of the mall demolation and the other photos I had taken that were not included in the posting. Here is the link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lamallguy1/
It was a rainy friday afternoon when I left Baton Rouge, got stuck in traffic, and did not make it to Hammond until dusk, but I got some really good shots of the Dillard’s just as the sun was setting. See the photos and how nice it looks at night. There are light posts surrounding the entire store making for a striking visual effect at night. It looks like a shiny,light golden brown color.
The demolition pictures I shot were taken on the following rainy saturday morning with no sunlight so they did not come out as good as I would have liked. I shot the demolation pictures of the back of the mall from the parking lot of the AMC theater behind the mall. I had to use my zoom lense to get the shots. I am going to try to go again this friday afternoon again and get some shots during the day when the sun is out. Hopefully it will not be raining when I go.
Still doesn’t explain about the name change and when it happened. But thanks!
Jonah: I do remember reading on some newspaper’s website in 2000 or 2001 about the changes at Hammond Square. I think it was the Hammond Daily Star, but not sure, it might have been The Times Picayune. The Daily Star has changed the design of their website since then and the article is probably gone from the archives for
being so old. You might want to check findarticles.com and search under “The Village at Hammond Square”. They may have it on their database, but you do have to pay to read whole articles there. I do remember the article talking about renovations and it being a new mall or something like and that the name had changed from Hammond
Square Mall to The Village at Hammond Square. You might want to go to nola.com/t-p/ and check the Times Picayune archives.
I have a new update from the Daily Star. JCPenney has already began construction on the new store and that the demolition is scheduled to be finished by february 15 and mall’s completion date has been pushed back to March 2009. And also an annoucement will be made in 60 days on the tenant list. Here is the article from January 10:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2008/01/23/top_stories/business/9727.txt
Like it happened yesterday, I remember my first visit to Hammond Square Mall during a high school fieldtrip in 1979. I recall being wonderfully overwhelmed at how the escalators, steps and elevator linked cleverly designed multi-levels. Years later, returning to Louisiana to work for WTGI-FM 103 (another lost, long gone Tangi landmark), I was thrilled and relieved after a long drive from Houston, to see THAT mall I fell in love with all over again.
I’ve been to countless malls across America–and yet only HSM and New Orleans’ Plaza (also long gone) are the ones I really enjoyed being in.
And over the years I’ve witnessed decor changes at HSM—from burnt orange 70’s tones, to subtle diffused color-blends to deeper sharp 90s contrast colors…..my heart tugged at also seeing HSM’s glory days fade.
But THOSE FLOORS never changed–from HSM’s grand opening….till her death in the name of “positive progress”.
And now, Hammond Square Mall is no more. How sad it is that current social trends lead us to “lifestyle centers” that have shoppers walk till worn out from shop to shop (God forbid you get caught in the rain). And what sense does it make to shuttle your car from one end to a far end of the “lifestyle center”, to another shop???
HSM was a beloved local landmark that deserved to be restored—and it died because deep pockets of several local elected officials got filled with some payola $$$$ for securing construction contracts. Throw a drink in their faces and tell them all Marc Rougee accuses them of it….and “thank” them for what their greed has done!!!
Looking at these familiar pictures carries me down memory lane, to more carefree fun days and great times there I had hosting remote radio broadcasts. I say goodbye to HSM with the same feeling right now I felt on my farewell broadcast at WTGI. Hammond surely now has changed….and I don’t think I can embrace or welcome what I’d see if I were to visit the area.
I actually looked in my school’s subscribed databases for any newspaper articles on Hammond Square. However, they don’t have everything (or I didn’t look hard enough) and I only read that Dillard’s acquired the HSM location in 1990. Makes sense. D.H. Holmes converted to Dillard’s in 1989, and that also explains why Dillard’s didn’t pack up and leave after the mall went downhill.
My name is Chris, Hi! lol… I was a mall rat at hammond square mall for years. From before I started school until it closed down. It is really sad to see it go. My mom worked their at a small place called movies for kids or something like that before the area was remodeled and the last thing to be there was a coffie kiosk where my fiance worked. I also worked there. I worked at KBtoys when I was in highschool.
There was sooo much unused space there. Most people have not been behind the scenes. The halls were all over the place. After I knew my way around, even when I did not work there anymore I would drive behind the place by Cucos and go in the “DO NOT ENTER” door to the left of the back enterance. The natural acoustics were amazing as well.
The mall was simply not kept up. I remember when I was about 4 years old I went to the security/information desk and I was trying to find my mother. The intercom was not working… ironically enough when I was 24 I was looking for someone elses kid and guess what… still wasn’t fixed, but they said they were working on it. : )
I believe it was a mix of BAD management, insane leasing prices, and the fight over streets/roads that were always being closed off. (like the one that was connected to Fagan Dr, and the one that lets you go to IHOP from Fagan now.
I apologize if this was a bit out of order and rambling. I do not know who is interested but I have the entire floor plan for HSM and I am making a map for the Half-Life 2 game Zombie modification. I am a fan of George A. Rameros “Dawn of the dead” which takes place in a shopping mall. I feel that Hammond Square would have been a nice place for a movie. I have already started on the 3d modeling of the structure. If you are not a gamer, or not a horror fan, you may be interested in the structure renders themselves. I will be doing two interiors. One is the original colors and decor, the other will be the neon mall in these pictures. Its not saleable so I will include ALL stores as they looked. From the Goldmine, to the Tilt!
This is the empty store front to the left of Dillards entrance, does anyone know what this store might have been?
http://www.labelscar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/hammondsquare29.jpg
It was morrisons cafe- closed about 1996 or something along those lines. I do not know what it was before that, but I do know the goldmine arcade was in radioshacks spot right down the steps from dillards.
Wow! You do, Chris? I couldn’t really understand Jamie’s plan, but could you send pictures of the old mall and the floorplans to earthboundmanREMOVE-THIS-ANTI-SPAM-HEADER@gmail.com?
Are making the exterior modeling in SketchUp so I can overlay it on Google Earth?
Thanks Chris for your input and what that particular store was! I remember Morrison’s Cafeteria very well when I used to go HSM when I was a student at SLU, although I never ate there..lol. The HSM location closed when Picadilly Cafeteria bought the chain in the late 90’s because they had opened a free standing location on an outparcel in Seville Plaza Shopping Center on Morrison Blvd in front of the old Walmart in Hammond, where Albertson’s still is. Picadilly converted all the Morrison’s acquisitions to the Picadilly name and closed many of them, and more than likely did not see a reason to have 2 locations in Hammond, especially one of then being in the neglected Hammond Square.
I dont play computer games, but you could please send me your renderings of the mall! I took pictures of the in mall directory in one of the pictures above, but I did not take a close up enough shot to see the mall layout really good. I wish now I would have asked management for one of those directories, maybe they would have given it to me, who knows? The directory was just a poster board inside a metal stand. I wonder what they did with those directories, they had a more than one in the mall I think. It was been a year since I took all these pictures, they were taken in the last week of March of last year, boy time does fly!
Anyway, my email address is jamiegon@yahoo.com to send me those renderings you made for your game.
I’m sorry for my rudeness, but can you send me a floor plan of Hammond Square Mall?
I actually tried to search for new tenants of the strip center replacing it and got an interesting article from 1999 about a similarly-named shopping center in Georgia, which was disappointing.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/1999/12/06/newscolumn3.html?page=1
I can’t believe people wanted to save this mall- its last decade of life was a complete and utter downward spiral into a pathetic and delayed death. The owners neglected it since its inception; it had little stores worth any value and the Dillard’s was so tiny it hardly fit any merchandise. The only jewel of this property was the Morrison’s cafeteria, which was like a Piccadilly of good quality. I found it extremely odd that the owners decided to try to save the dying mall by hiring what seemed like a blind person to pick ten non coordinating colors to arbitrarily paint on various vertical surfaces on the inside and outside of the property, only emphasizing the mall’s calls of desperation for business. Talk about too little too late!
This mall was not a mid century architectural jewel; its floorplan was unconventional (in a bad way) and overly split-level, to the point that one got tired from climbing all the stairs even though the mall’s footprint was so small. The quality of construction was visibly poor on the inside and out… and I cannot even describe how bad the lighting was! The last year of its existence the Dillard’s displayed a banner on its I-12 facing exterior proclaiming “We’re Open!” Really, because that mall you’re renting from looks like it’s been uninhabited for twenty years!
It was just a tragic story of neglect and laziness. I’m thrilled that it was bought and is being redeveloped into a mid-range lifestyle center. Hammond’s location between two high-end shopping locations (Baton Rouge and soon-to-be Mandeville) on the I-12 corridor make it the perfect place for middle class stores. I’m sure if it is done right (which as I understand it is) it will be far more successful than its unfortunate predecessor.
I really loved the layout of this mall, in louisiana it was really the most interesting mall even though it was small. The shops sucked and it was a shame to see this place go. It was a great place to walk around in. Pity really.
That was Morrison’s Cafeteria. I worked for the previous owners for years in their corporate office in kenner. Although there was not enough attention paid to the mall the biggest problem was being in such a small market. It was well located but the shoppers and thier money were in Baton Rouge or Covington and mall stores are driven by demographics,and thats what really killed the mall. I was there when the new coors we added, it actually looked better in person than in photos. It generated excitment and traffic, just as it was supposed to do. But by that time the owner was under assult and in the middile of a nasty proxy fight which enned up in the sale of Sizeler to Revenue Properties of Canada. Hammond was sold prior to that to its current owners.
Wow, it’s crazy to see pictures of this mall. I just moved from Hammond to the UK a year ago and was feeling a bit home sick so I started to see if I could find any information on the development of the new mall. The landscape of Hammond has changed so much in the year since we’ve been gone. I can’t wait to get back home and see how it all looks now. But seeing these pictures makes me miss Hammond Square even more.
The person named “Chris” said he had a floorplan/lease plan of the mall. Can anyone contact this person so he could share said leaseplan?
The new rebuilt JCPenney will be opening this sunday. Looks like people in Hammond are exited about the new store. People are going to the store thinking it is already open:
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/business/28606984.html
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2008/09/25/top_stories/business/9291.txt
And Target and Best Buy will be opening in July:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2008/09/25/top_stories/business/9297.txt
This is really depressing.
Reading this makes me feel extremely sad. I really miss the mall.
I pretty much grew up in this mall. Literally.
When I was under the age of ten, I used to go to this mall multiple times a week and spend all day there.
And now, it’s not there anymore for me to go to, the only stores open are Dillard’s, Rite Aid, & JCPenney’s.
And the old JCPenney’s was definitely better than the new one.
I think I’m going to cry. 🙁
I live in Hammond, and the design of this mall was different from anything that I had ever seen. From what I have heard, Sizler had bad management who would not let retailers like Dillard’s expand their store to be more like other malls. It was a small building, but that could have been fixed. I feel that poor management (and not a decline in “malls”) led to the demise of this unique structure.
I was pretty disappointed to hear that it was going to be a “lifestyle center” and not an indoor mall, but I’m quite excited knowing that target is opening here! I’m going to have to send pictures of the new construction. It finally seems as thought they are making progress!
I don’t know if anyone’s already mentioned this, but those “day-glo” colors weren’t there from the 70’s. The mall actually got repainted (inside & out) in those retro colors a couple of years before the mall closed (as in, the 21th century).
And became “The Village of Hammond Square”, as opposed to Hammond Square Mall.
I scrolled all the way down just to comment that the mall’s bright, crazy colors in the pictures were only just painted within the last two or three years before the mall’s closing (as opposed to the 90’s or 70’s as earlier suggested), only to find another person named Sarah posted this exact comment today as well! Coincidence?? Hm…. 🙂
But I remember that in the couple years before the plans to close the mall were released, the mall seemed to be trying to recover and revamp business by having a billboard ads placed around Hammond and by re-painting the exterior and interior. After this make-over, I found it very ironic to discover that the mall was headed for demolition not too long after.
I was intially sad to hear out the mall’s eminent demolition, because it was just something from my childhood that I couldn’t imagine not existing. The building itself, with the mullti-level design was so unique. A couple friends joked after it closed that it’s split-level design would make it the perfect location for a massive game of laser tag! Undeniably lame, the mall was still something that I associated as being uniquely part of Hammond. It’s been very strange seeing businesses that were a part of the mall for years popping up around Hammond as their own separate stores. I have hope though, because and infusion of new businesses, and more importantly JOBS, is something that Hammond could really use right now. Since Katrina, growth in Hammond and the college population at SLU has been phenomenal, and this has been great for the city.
I’m away at college at the moment, but when I return to Hammond this summer, I can wait to see the progress on the new mall. Also in need of a summer job, I was thinking about applying at the new Target, and that, coincidentally, is how I stumbled upon this page!
I too miss the mall! I used to work there for 2 years and it was an awesome place with a very unique atmosphere. I’m thrilled that were getting a best buy and target but I wish they would have purchased the land behind the palace to build the major stores and just kept the mall for the smaller shops while bringing in some good names such as american eagle, old navy, gap and similar and doing a huge makeover. After working there and hearing what all was going on it seemed that it was MUCH cheaper to demolish the mall and build the new shops than it would have costed to maintain it. They had an ancient boiler system that always broke and the electrical was at risk of burning the whole place down so I guess that was a huge part in the deal breaker. Now we have Target opening July 27th (grand opening. Store will open a week or 2 before), Phill’s grill, alabasha Greek & Lebanese resturant, cafe roma and Santa fe cattle co(Similar to longhorn/outback) opening on or around June 8th and best buy opening in the first part of June with tjmaxx closely following. They have not announce any of the smaller tenants but I know for sure there will be a Paris Parker salon, rue 21, books a million (old location will move here), portabella’s restaurant, hibbitt shoe store, encore shoe store. If anyone saw the old pdf they had on the Stirling properties website about 6 months ago they had several other retailers on the map and have since removed all of them I guess trying to keep it a secret. I just hope there will be some good stores and not old mall clients moving back in. We don’t need 5 shoe stores. lol In an article in the daily star last week it was stated the remaining tenants will move in between august and thanksgiving and they would announce all of them in the coming weeks. I guess we will know shortly!
TJMaxx is open, Sears is remodeled totally (you wouldn’t know it was original, it’s now yellow with the new logo) but Dillard’s still looks like the 1970s. I’m thinking this is because Dillard’s may close the location…
@Kirb, Yes, you are correct!
The reason why the mall never developed was Sizeler properties had a beef with the city of Hammond for over 20 years over a 12 inch “spite strip” that ran along the north side of the mall. Sizeler properties used this spite strip to prevent expansion of the surrounding retail development of the mall area. In fact, the north access street to the mall was closed, opened, closed to traffic because of legal haggling over this 12 inch wide, 1000 foot piece of property. Fotunately, Sizeler properties’ vendetta against Hammond was its own downfall. The new development is fantastic. Thank you Mr. Maurin.
Hi, everybody! This is my first time posting, but I’ve been checking this site for the last 2 1/2 years. (I stumbled across it while doing a Google image search for pictures of Hammond Square, [since this is the mall I grew up with and it will always have a special place in my heart] and you have a lot of cool articles and pictures of malls across North America. Keep up the good work!)
I just wanted to give everyone some updates:
Target opened July 22 and had thier grand opening July 26, and the center portion of the new mall (the main street) is set to open in late September or early October.
@Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D), Actually, TJ Maxx won’t open until August 2nd, and Sears hasn’t remodeled yet. (The exterior was repainted and updated with new lower-case Sears logo in the spring of 2006, which was before the mall was purchased and demolished, and the interior was last renovated in the spring and summer of 1996, but a new renovation is supposed to occur eventually.) And in regard to Dillard’s, they’re supposed to do a total renovation/expansion sometime in the near future. The exterior still has the original look from the time it was D.H. Holmes when the mall was built in the late 70s. (Note: Dillard’s did slightly remodel the interior in the late summer/early fall of 1989 when the store was taken over, but the previous mall owners [Sizeler Properties] kept Dillard’s from renovating or expanding due Dillard’s owning thier building, but the new mall owners [Stirling Properties and Hammond businessman Jimmy Maurin] are letting Dillard’s expand.) Dillard’s has no plans to close.
Sorry for being long-winded, I just wanted to give my insights on things.
Nice pics… hammond-square-30.jpg looks like the elevator, by the way. Though the colors they have on the walls look really strange, definitely not what I remember, it really used to be almost all grey / brown / black / rock…
I was a Hammond resident for 20 years. Sadly, I don’t think I ever got any pics of that place. Really unfortunate that they decided to scrap the whole lot rather than renovate, quite sad…
re, Sizeler properties and that 12″ strip.. agree 100%; major management blunders were surely a big factor; management staunch insistence to ownership of Fagan drive and decision to block off that strip of land impeded development of the surrounding area: them blocking it prevented access to the surrounding area (except to the mall) from the major road.
See here for some more info: http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2005/12/22/business/biz02.txt
In the short term it may have protected them from some competition directly next door; but in the long run, it clearly did much more harm than good
Had Sizeler put their resources into further development rather than into lawsuits, maybe they wouldn’t have gone into bankruptcy, and maybe they could’ve done something better than demolish and build open space.
here is the new face of Hammond
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hammond+squre+&FORM=BIFD#focal=10528564b4117ff1f4b40037e9c92ecb&furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stirlingprop.com%2Fpiclib%2F1733.gif
Here’s an update about Hammond Square:
The grand opening is finally here after 2 1/2 years of construction. Here are some links to the grand opening event from The Daily Star:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2009/10/01/top_stories/business/9103.txt
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2009/10/01/top_stories/8860.txt
It seems like it was never going to get done, but finally the new Hammond Square held it’s grand opening yesterday! Here is a link from The Hammond Star:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2009/10/02/top_stories/business/9103.txt
and another from 1012corrider.com
http://www.1012corridor.com/archives/1012-corridor-weekly/latest/
and one more from Stirling Properties website with some pictures of the all new center:
http://www.stirlingprop.com/site137.php wil
It will be interesting to see how many of the stores will be returning from the old Hammond Square.
A few months ago I was surprised to see that while there were many new stores and Sears had fully integrated into Hammond Square, Dillard’s stood alone with its exterior unrenovated. Is that still the case?
@Jonah Norason (Pseudo3D),
It’s still the case. Dillard’s still has its 1976-1977 D.H. Holmes exterior because they haven’t started thier renovation/expansion yet, and Sears’ exterior was redone in the spring of 2006, a few months before the mall was sold and a year before the mall was demolished.
i have many cool memories in this mall and i also used to work there as a jeweler….whats up? holden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, everybody. The new and improved Hammond Square is continuing to grow and is getting more successful by the day. Here are 2 new articles from The Daily Star:
Academy Sports back on board and former mall tenant Claire’s returning:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2010/09/23/top_stories/business/8940.txt
The Home Depot possibly back on board, Gap and Old Navy on list of potential tenants, but not anything definate: http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2010/09/23/top_stories/business/8935.txt
Here’s another update on the new and improved Hammond Square:
The Children’s Place is expected to open in the spring of the new year. You can find the info at the following link: http://www.stirlingprop.com/site.php?pageID=85&newsID=304
those pics r so old. u have to b @ least 30 to remeber the way it looks up there. i would b happy to send pics if i could. that was a good laugh seein the. i needed that.
I lived in Hammond from 1979 to 1985, from when I was 9 to 15, and Hammond Square was my favorite place in the whole town. Specifically, the Gold Mine game room, the B. Dalton book store, and the movie theater. Sometime around 1982, a second game room, Jolly Cholly’s, opened and I was in video game heaven!
Another treat in 1979 was to go into Sears and go to the home video game displays they had set up where you could play the Atari 2600 or the Intellivision as long as you liked (or at least until a Sears employee sent you packing)! And then I’d cross to the other side of the mall, over to D. H. Holm’s, and play on the Atari computers they had on display!
And I saw so many great films there: Back to the Future, Airplane, Cocoon, Fletch, The Goonies, Weird Science, Beverley Hills Cop, Dreamscape, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Terminator, and of course, The Breakfast Club, just to name a few.
As opposed to nowadays when you don’t dare let a child out of your sight, my parents would drop me off at Hammond Square for hours at a time all by myself without any worry that some psycho would abduct and murder me (or perhaps that’s what my parents kept hoping for? LOL).
While I lived in Hammond, I’m sure I was at Hammond Square at least once a week, sometimes twice. It was easy to get to, parking was never a problem, it had everything you needed inside it, and it was air-conditioned. The air conditioning made it a wonderful summertime retreat – you could be in a relatively open space and still be cool.
About a decade after moving away to a vastly larger city (Richmond, Va) I was passing through Louisiana for the first time since leaving, and stopped in Hammond for a few hours to just visit the old haunts and I stopped at Hammond Square first. I couldn’t believe how small it was! In my memory, it was still this massive place from my childhood.
I wish I had taken some photos, but cell phones weren’t common in 1995 and they certainly didn’t have cameras in them. Had I known that would be the last time I’d ever stand in Hammond Square Mall, I would have bought a camera and used up roll after roll of film photographing every last inch of the Square.
@Katie,
I feel the same way… though I have mixed feelings. I never really shopped at the mall. I’d shop at Mall of Louisiana or someplace else… but I wish it was there just to walk around for the nostalgia.
I’m seeing that American Eagle and Aeropostale were supposed to be coming… Is that still happening?
“I half expected to see J. Riggings or an Orange Julius”
@Rich,
Actually, back in the day, Hammond Square did have an Orange Julius upstairs, but I think it closed sometime back in the mid to late 80’s. That space and the adjacent spaces were later gutted and renovated for recruiting offices for the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) in the early 90’s.
@Tricky Nicky,
The Zales was remodeled in 1995 if I recall correctly, but as far as I know, it was there from day one.
@Chris O.,
Nothing yet, but you can get the latest info @ Hammond Square’s official website:
http://www.stirlingprop.com/site137.php
And also Hammond Square’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/hammondsquare/
Does anyone have any belle promenade mall info or pics? Please drop us a line at southernmalls@gmail.com.
UPDATE:
Stirling Properties has a new full-blown website for Hammond Square with an interactive store directory, event calendar, picture gallery, and other bells and whistles. you can find it at the following link:
http://hammond-square.com/Home.aspx
@Chris,
Actually, Morrison’s closed in 1999, and Radio Shack was downstairs from Sears in the former location of Hickory Farms where Radio Shack had been from c.1989 until the old mall was demolished (previously Radio Shack was upstairs in the Sears wing from the time the mall opened until the late ’80s). Hope that clears things up. 🙂
UPDATE:
Olive Garden is coming to Hammond Square. The story can be found at the following:
http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2012/03/30/top_stories/8302.txt
UPDATE:
Olive Garden announces opening:
(http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2012/07/24/top_stories/business/8345.txt)
I grew up about 20 minutes from the Hammond Square.
When I was a little girl, the Hammond Square was my maw’s maw’s favorite place to go. My mom, maw maw, and I would go just about every weekend.
When Maw maw got tired she would set in the little area by the Popcorn store where the benches and play center was for the kids….by the fountain and across from Chic-fi-la. She just liked to set and talk with her friends and people watch.
Mom and I would walk around the mall. I loved the toy store upstairs…..I don’t think it was K.B…seems like there was another one that had a bunch of dolls. I loved running up and down the ramp going into, I think, it was Dillards.
Then we would go to Chic-fi-la and eat…go get some free samples from the sausage place next door…my maw maw loved that place:).
This was the early 80’s.
When I think of the Hammond Square, I will always think about that little ole mall that I spent so much time in and I will think of my maw maw…setting on her bench telling stories to her friends:). The smell of the popcorn place that I so loved..
It’s more than a building to some people………it held so many memories of childhood….
Did not know where to post this so I chose Hammond Square Mall. But this is what happened in Baton Rouge, Louisiana last night in the Mall of Louisiana. Some fights broke out among the teenagers there and it had be closed early. Thought it would be an interesting read for everyone. The comments at the bottom say a lot too…..
http://theadvocate.com/home/4846140-125/ebr-deputies-investigating-fight-at
@Jamie B,
This kind of nonsense is exactly why malls across the nation have implemented strict policies prohibiting unsupervised minors from entering malls after 6 P.M. on Fridays and Saturdays, except for 16- and 17-year-olds who work at the stores in the mall. Youngsters who don’t have parental supervision for the most part are troublemakers.
@Jamie B, it was Morrison’s Cafeteria. Trying to remember more of the stores but is was so long ago.
@Chris, i would love to see that
Had alot of good times and memories. I missed the people that work and shopped there.
This is actually old news, the place has been gone for over a year, probably a good bit longer which is actually a shame. The inner mall was a lot better idea than what they have now. They may make more money since the new shops arrived, but that’s something they could’ve done with the old one, just by simply adding on to it. All they’re doing is taking away another place for younger people to hang out at, heck.. Even 20 year olds and older. They had this amazing laser tag place, and everybody loved it that was in the mall. It doesn’t feel as community driven now.
I saw my first movie in theatre here..I grew up in this town…love it!
I was an SLU student from ’81-’83 and still have fond memories of HSM. I drove over to Hammond in ’09 for the first time in a long time (having been away for 12 years) and it was gone except Dillards!!! I was stunned and had no idea such a thing was going to happen.
I can still remember the Saturday mornings I would head to the mall and tap the Corn Dog 7 for FOUR large corn dogs and a huge cup of that sweet lemonade. Then off to Torrance’s Fitness Center (down by SLU – learned that Mark Torrance died years ago, rather prematurely) for a work out! You can get away with those things when you are 20 and training for US Army Airborne School (back when they had ROTC at SLU).
They used to have a game and hobby store that had good military strategy games in it. They also had a The Sizzler (not to be confused with Western Sizzlin'”) that had a dish called “Malibu Chicken” they I used to ram down often. Just by looking at the old photos above (but not as old as my memories!), I think Sizzler was where this Cucos used to be (the roof looks familiar as does the entrance.
Ah, the old mall; gone just like old rat trap McNeely Hall… now a parking lot at SLU… and I lived there for two years! Torn down a month before my ’09 visit!
I miss this old mall. Sure it needed some up dating but it was nice to walk around indoors and get to were ever you needed to go. There were so many pluses to have it all in one building. Now is nice but I like the old way better
@Marc Rougee, I know how you feel. I’ll be 35 at the end of next month and Hammond has changed a LOT in my lifetime. If I’d moved away years ago and came back, I probably wouldn’t recognize it! 😀
@Jamie B, Actually there’s still one Morrison’s Cafeteria that still has its name. It’s an outparcel at Springdale Plaza in Mobile, Alabama. 😉
Hope I was of help. 😀
I no longer live in Hammond, I’m now in Northern Michigan. But, I can tell you that the old Hammond Square Mall is a fond place in my memory.
Some of my most fondest memories from early childhood took place there… my hand in the hand of my grandma’s as she guided me up those stairs. I remember the coin-operated rocking horses she let me and my brothers ride on. I remember the free chicken nuggets… the smell of fresh baked cookies, caramel corn, corndogs… oh my goodness the smells. The mall was like a sanctuary of all that was holy to a small child — exciting sights, sounds, and smells. Looking at those photos from the mall’s last days only make those memories somehow more poignant.
Even the parking lot — that giant live oak and the duck pond that used to be there. We sat there more than once on one of the tree’s giant branches that ran along the ground, my brothers and I, my grandmother, and her mother… watching the ducks on the pond.
Grandma’s no longer with us, sadly, and neither is Hammond Square Mall. Of course, you can’t expect things to never change. You can’t expect businesses to put a lot of stock in a building that’s outdated and expensive to maintain. But, I think it’s important to respect the past while embracing the future — thankfully this little post and all the people who’ve commented have done that.
I’ve returned to Louisiana a few times since the “new mall” was built atop the ruins of the old. It’s new. It’s different. I’ll stop short of saying it’s “better”, though, because my sentimentality just won’t let me.
I’m confident that somewhere on those freshly-paved sidewalks, a little boy is being guided along by his grandmother. As they walk hand-in-hand, the smell of cookies or ice cream wafting in the air on a hot Louisiana day… I know new precious memories are being made. And that’s what’s really important… not the new Target or the return of Penney’s. 😉