Cortana Mall: A Fun Place To Die Alone

Have you ever dreamed of dying in a remote location, only to be found six weeks later by some random jogger and their dog?
Well, Cortana Mall is the place for you, friend.

I recently made a trip to what was once one of my favorite places to frequent as a kid: the Cortana Mall. The place that had Record Bar, Sam Goody, Waldenbooks, the Arcade. It was honestly one of my favorite places to go as a kid because I’d save up my allowance and hit the music stores to buy new albums. Any albums. I’d buy CDs and tapes from bands I’d never heard of, just judging them on the cool album covers.

It was at Cortana Mall that I bought my first leather jacket. There was Gadzooks and Hot Topic for the tweens, there were loads of restaurants, and of course you had your standard stores like J.C. Penny, Dillards, Macy’s, etc.

This all changed when the Mall of Louisiana opened up in 1997.

Not only did the new mall drive a stake into Cortana’s heart, but with the rise of online services like Amazon, no one really needs to go to the mall anymore.

Cortana used to be the place to go. Come Christmas time the place was absolutely mobbed with people.

Now, however, Cortana Mall is a ghost town.
It’s not one of those defunct malls that’s completely closed down where the ceiling is falling in and hobos are passed out in the corner. It’s actually still open.
There are still stores there.

I thought it was completely vacant. In fact, most people in Baton Rouge still think it’s completely vacated.
Nope, Dillards is still there as well as a barbershop, some specialty clothing shops, one of those hair places that sells wigs and weaves, a Bath & Body Works, a couple of jewelry stores, the Army recruitment center, some place where kids learn how to dance, a live theater venue, and a Philly Cheese Steak restaurant.
I was blown away by this.
I absolutely couldn’t believe that there were still businesses in operation at Cortana Mall.

And it didn’t look that bad.

Sure, there were areas where the paint was peeling off, some flickering lights here and there, sections that didn’t have any lights at all, but over all it looked like it was being fairly maintained on a budget that is understandably stretched extremely thin.

This is typically what happens to malls.
There’s always that one big mall that everyone goes to. Then, a new one opens up and it forces the old one to become some “business district.” That’s what happened in Baton Rouge. We had the Bon Marche Mall, then the Cortana Mall, and now the Mall of Louisiana.
Each one kills off the one before.

Cortana Mall opened in 1976, just four days after I was born. It took four years to prepare and construct and at the time it was considered one of the nations largest malls with 1.4 million square feet of space.

I remember going to the Picadilly restaurant quite a bit after church and how my parents would never let me get desert cause I would never finish all the food I got on my entree. I also remember the Monogram It store right next to the Picadilly because that’s the place I went to when I took my Circuit City work shirts to get my “name” monogrammed on them.
When I worked at Circuit City they gave you shirts with your name embroidered on it. I ordered my shirts with no name so I could get some goofy names on them myself. I showed up to work on several days as “Bogo,” “Super Jay,” and “Beaucoup.”
They were not pleased.

The Cortana Mall held on for a while after the Mall of Louisiana opened up. Virgina College showed up, Mervyns was around, and then there were the mall mainstays: Sears, Macy’s, Dillards, etc.

In 2017 it was announced that Sears would be closing. Then Footlocker left. J.C. Penny closed the same year leaving only 48 stores within–62 spaces now vacant.

In 2018 the number of stores dwindled down to 40 occupied stores. Then Virginia College closed down.

Now, in 2019 there are only about 5 stores left inside.

It was pretty sad walking through the mall I once loved so much. Seeing the old Record Bar, Waldenbooks, and Sam Goody locations all barred up and empty really bummed me out.
That’s the way things are I guess.

I didn’t get as many interesting photos as I thought. Like I said, it really wasn’t in that bad of shape. Sure, there were lots of closed stores but what was odd was that they took it upon themselves to decorate the gated up entrances with odd paintings and mannequins.

For years I’ve been hearing talk about Cortana getting a rebound. I hear rumors about someone buying out big sections of it to turn it into a haunted house like the very popular 13th Gate attraction in downtown Baton Rouge.

It’s just sad. Five stores remain out of 110 available slots. One anchor store remains out of six. Over a million and a half square feet–barely anything left.

I guess I should go visit the Mall of Louisiana to prepare a portfolio of “Before” pictures.