Maison Blanche

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Maison Blanche

File:Maison Blanche Department Store Final Logo.png
Company type	private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1897
Defunct	1998
Fate	Taken over by Dillard's or individual locations transferred to Foley's
Successor	Dillard's (1998-present) or Foley's (1998-2006) currently Macy's (2006-present)
Headquarters	New Orleans, Louisiana
Products	Apparel, shoes, bedding, furniture, jewelry, cosmetics, and home goods
Parent	Previously Mercantile Stores Company, Inc. (1992-1998)
Website	None

Maison Blanche (French pronunciation: [mɛzɔ̃ blɑ̃ʃ] , meaning White House) was a prominent department store headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, which later expanded into a regional chain. The store was established in 1897 by Isidore Newman, a German immigrant.

Maison Blanche is notably recognized for creating the well-loved local holiday figure, Mr. Bingle, and for its iconic flagship location on Canal Street.

File:Maison Blanche New Orleans 1976 by Leon Winer.JPG

Exterior view of the Maison Blanche store on Canal Street in 1976

Corporate history

In 1923, Maison Blanche became part of the portfolio of the City Stores Company, which subsequently merged it with Loveman's in 1950. City Stores filed for bankruptcy protection in July 1979. During bankruptcy proceedings, there was an initial plan to merge the seven Maison Blanche locations with four Memphis-based Lowenstein's stores to form a consolidated Maison Blanche Department Stores group; however, by early 1982 the Memphis outlets were closed.

Ultimately, three of the seven existing Maison Blanche stores along with the brand name were acquired by Goudchaux's, Inc., a Baton Rouge-based company owned by the Sternberg family. Operating under the combined Goudchaux/Maison Blanche banner, they reopened the original Canal Street flagship store in 1984 through leasing three floors from its new owners.

File:CanalMaisonBlanchBldg1898.jpg

Historic Maison Blanche building circa 1898

During the late 1980s, as May Department Stores exited the Florida market by divesting two chains, Maison Blanche capitalized on this opportunity to expand rapidly into Florida. In 1987, they acquired the ten-store Robinson's of Florida chain located along Florida’s Gulf Coast and Orlando markets—including locations such as Tyrone Square Mall, University Square Mall, WestShore Plaza, Countryside Mall, Southgate Plaza, Edison Mall, Coastland Center, Orlando Fashion Square, Altamonte Mall, The Florida Mall—and an additional store at Lakeland Square Mall. The following year saw acquisition of five Jacksonville-area stores from "May Florida" (formerly May Cohens), including Roosevelt Square, Regency Square, Orange Park Mall, and Volusia Mall in Daytona Beach; the Gateway Mall location was closed. At this point, all stores were rebranded under the Maison Blanche name after retiring the Goudchaux brand.

By 1990, two additional stores were launched—one replacing an existing outlet at Orlando Fashion Square and another at Jacksonville’s newly opened Avenues Mall—bringing their Florida presence to sixteen stores. However, this swift growth combined with an oil-sector downturn in Louisiana strained Maison Blanche’s operations. Consequently, in August 1991 eight Gulf Coast Florida locations were sold to Dillard's, transferring ownership of Tyrone Square, University Square, WestShore Plaza, Countryside Mall, Southgate Plaza, Edison Mall, Coastland Center, and Lakeland stores.

This transaction left Maison Blanche with eight stores each in Louisiana and Florida until February 1992 when Mercantile Stores Inc. acquired the sixteen-store unit. Mercantile converted the remaining Florida outlets to their Gayfers brand—these included Roosevelt Square, Regency Square, Orlando Fashion Square, Orange Park Mall, Volusia Mall, Altamonte Mall, The Florida Mall, and Avenues Mall. Meanwhile, Louisiana locations continued operating under the Maison Blanche name until Dillard's acquired Mercantile Stores in 1998. After briefly running the Canal Street flagship location post-acquisition, Dillard's closed it shortly thereafter.

This takeover by Dillard's occurred nearly ten years after their purchase of another notable New Orleans retail landmark on Canal Street—D.H. Holmes.

File:CanalSt3Oct07MBBuildingFromBarrone.jpg

The Canal Street Maison Blanche Building

Within the Canal Street Maison Blanche store was a satellite outlet of Solari's, a gourmet food retailer.

Canal Street Landmark

The original Maison Blanche building was located on Canal Street but was torn down around 1908. Between 1908 and 1909, a new, architecturally notable structure was erected on the same site, which remains standing today. Initially, the upper floors housed numerous medical and dental practices; however, these spaces later fell largely into disuse.

In 1982, the City Stores Company closed the Canal Street location, though it reopened two years later in 1984. Notably, in 1993, the New Orleans sludge metal group Eyehategod recorded their second album, Take as Needed for Pain, on the building’s 13th floor. By 1997, renovation efforts began to convert the upper levels into part of a new Ritz-Carlton hotel. The initial concept involved maintaining Maison Blanche department store operations on the lower floors. However, after Dillard's acquired the remaining Maison Blanche chain, they shuttered the Canal Street store. Presently, this building along with the adjacent Kress building has been incorporated into the New Orleans Ritz-Carlton hotel, which officially opened on October 6, 2000.

During and following Hurricane Katrina, the hotel remained occupied but endured significant damage. Flooding affected the basement and critical infrastructure such as electrical systems, laundry facilities, and the employee cafeteria sustained harm. After extensive repairs costing $106 million (adjusted for inflation to current US GDP standards), the Ritz-Carlton resumed operations on December 4, 2006.

See also

• D. H. Holmes

Notes

• Sternberg, Hans J. We Were Merchants: The Sternberg Family and the Story of Goudchaux's and Maison Blanche Department Stores. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2009 ISBN 978-0-8071-3449-8