What’s up with the Pierre Bossier Mall?
Having just moved back to Bossier City I spent some time with my girlfriend reacquainting myself with the area and found myself a little surprised when it came to the Pierre Bossier Mall. It's no secret that malls as a whole have had a rough time in the last ten or so years, but the Pierre Bossier Mall has found itself in an odd place.
One by One the Dominoes Have Fallen
Going back a few years to 2018 Pierre Bossier took one of its first major hits of the recent era when Sears closed its doors, as well as their Shreveport location at Mall St. Vincent. Since then, Bossier City's shopping mall has said goodbye to many major locations that used to call Pierre Bossier home, a few of those big names include Kay Jewlers, Zales, Raising Canes, Great American Cookies, GameStop, Victoria's Secret, and most recently the fashion and skate shop Zumiez. If you longboard or skate like me then that last one might be a gut punch as the SBC is left without any sort of skate shop in the vicinity.
SoBo Cold Brew
With all of these big names shutting their door's new locations have found the Pierre Bossier Mall and a home therein. If you've been in the mall recently you may have been a bit startled by a giant skeleton statue hanging around by the food court, well that means you've found SoBo Cold Brew. SoBo has been around for a minute, originally serving cold brew coffee out at the Bossier City and Shreveport Farmers Markets, back in August of 2023 SoBo found a new home in the old spot where Great American Cookies sat.
J&W Music Company
Pierre Bossier welcomed another new location back in late 2021, J&W Music Company. Now to be fair, J&W in the mall isn't a new business as they explain in a Facebook post, back in 2018 they opened a kiosk at Barksdale AFB. Walking by their location in the mall you'll be hard pressed not to notice the wall of guitars and crates upon crates full of vinyl records. I've spent nearly an hour just digging through their boxes of records and will gladly spend many more at J&W.
Rose's Hair Braiding Salon & Boutique
Most recently Pierre Bossier has welcomed Rose's Hair Braiding Salon & Boutique. Back in April Rose's lifted that infamous metal gate all former mall employees know all too well, myself included.
A Final Surge
Last but not least the location you probably already know about, Surge by Drew Brees. Surge made a lot of noise back in 2022 as it was announced that they had struck a deal with the mall to take over the space that was once Virginia College. Surge seems to be doing well in the mall since they opened back in April of 2022.
Some ends and some new beginnings
Well, it seems like even though a bunch of the big names have moved out the Pierre Bossier Mall still has plenty of life in it, and that's not counting the events they hold on premises like the Bossier City Farmers Market. But maybe some of those YouTube Dead Mall channels would still like to come visit with all of the empty storefronts.