As Saks Fifth Avenue prepares to close its Canal Place store, attention is turning to what comes next for the three-story anchor space in New Orleans’ most prominent shopping center.
The store is slated for closure as part of parent company Saks Global’s bankruptcy restructuring, opening up about 75,000 square feet of prime commercial real estate at the foot of Canal Street. Saks representatives said it is expected to remain open through the end of April.
Securing a suitable successor to Saks — the mall’s lone anchor tenant for the past 43 years — is a high-stakes decision with repercussions for the city. Canal Street, once the city’s preeminent shopping corridor, has struggled since the 1990s with the departure of department stores and specialty retailers, including, most recently, the closure of Palace Cafe last year and the impending exit of Adler’s jewelry store…