HAMMOND SQUARE MALL
I'm going to be essentially rewriting the Hammond Square article on Labelscar (there may be a few comments by me). Some of it is a bit inaccurate in light of new information but it helped provide a good backbone for this post. The pictures here are from "Jamie", some given to Labelscar and some given to me. Both were unavailable for comment, so I've reuploaded it here.
Hammond Square (initially just "Hammond Square", the "Hammond Square Mall" name came later) was built in 1977 as a regional mall for Hammond, Louisiana, a small college town that sits about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge on Interstate 12. The center's first store was Sears, opening in July 1977, with the interior open later that month featuring 18 stores including Camelot Music, Radio Shack, and Morrison's Cafeteria. The mall's full opening came in September 1977 with New Orleans-based D.H. Holmes and in 1978 JCPenney joined as a third anchor, and after that the mall, owned by Sizeler Properties of Kenner, Louisiana, never changed much in terms of interior design or anchor swaps. There were some changes, most notably Holmes becoming Dillard's when Holmes was purchased by Dillard's in 1989, and the drug store junior anchor next to Sears changed hands a few hands.
Based on pictures and descriptions, despite being compact, the mall had three floors, an upper level, a lower level, and a mezzanine level. The mezzanine level was in the court area but also around the anchors, where Sears, the drug store, Morrison's, and a movie theater just west of D.H. Holmes, the Hammond Square Twin. This map shows in a bit more detail, the 100s are on the lower level, 200s on the mid level, and 300s on the upper level. Here, the drug store is a Walgreens, having purchased and rebranded the original store Fasullo Drugs in 1982, then moving out in 1991 and replaced by a new K&B drug store, which was rebranded as Rite Aid in 1999. (The Walgreens moved to outside of the mall where it remains to this day).
The biggest change that was seen in the pictures was the short-lived The Village of Hammond Square rebrand in late 2005, which included the banners, new paint, and some of the flooring. From what I could find this was supposed to be a bigger remodel which got derailed from the departure of JCPenney, which moved in 2004 when it packed up for River Chase, a new power center in Covington.
Over time, many of the typical mall shops that occupied malls like Hammond Square left. B. Dalton and KB Toys disappeared, Morrison's Cafeteria was replaced with Cucos Mexican Restaurant, and the movie theater was boarded up after a new movie theater, the Palace Theatre 10 (now AMC Hammond Palace 10) was built nearby. This did not connect to the mall at all, and rather sat in a separate lot off of C.M. Fagan Drive. The biggest change that was seen in the pictures was the short-lived The Village of Hammond Square rebrand in late 2005, which included the banners, new paint, and some of the flooring. From what I could find this was supposed to be a bigger remodel which got derailed from the departure of JCPenney. In 2006, the mall was sold to Sterling Properties for a mall redevelopment (dubbed a "renovation"). Despite still having chains like Chick-fil-A, Bath & Body Works, and a few others at the mall (including the offices for KSLU), the new management ordered everyone out. Despite having one of the smallest (if not THE smallest) Dillard's stores in the chain at just 75k square feet (and no split departments), Dillard's stuck around, as did Sears. The JCPenney building was being torn apart by the time the mall closed.
The new Hammond Square power center was twice the size of the old mall and not only integrated the movie theater into the development added two new anchors—JCPenney and Target (T-2531). When the mall was demolished, Sears was retained, with a little courtyard area exiting south into where the mall used to be, as well as the Rite Aid next to it (I'm not sure if Rite Aid kept its "interior" entrance). When both of these went away, Sears with bankruptcy, and Rite Aid exiting from Louisiana, the last two original elements (save for the D.H. Holmes/Dillard's) were torn down for additional restaurants and stores. It should be noted that in 2009, Rite Aid did do a full renovation of their store and signed a 10-year lease, but it closed in 2018 as Rite Aid sold its Louisiana stores (and hundreds others) to Walgreens. Other stores at the "new" Hammond Square included T.J. Maxx and Best Buy (PetSmart, HomeGoods, and Michaels joined after the demise of Sears and Rite Aid). I never got a chance to visit the old mall but I did visit the Best Buy, and I was saddened to realize that the mall as it was becoming ancient history. Hopefully with Labelscar gone this gives it better documentation.
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