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CLEARVIEW MALL IN Metairie could be sporting the red-and-white Target logo next year, as the Minneapolis discount retailer seeks to take the place of the Dillard's department store when it closes there, a local real estate source says.
The store, in a prominent Veterans Memorial Boulevard location, would mark Target's entry into the New Orleans area. The chain has 942 stores in 45 states, but just two in Louisiana, in Alexandria and Lafayette. Target rivals Wal-Mart stores in the discount retail business, but it emphasizes more upscale products.
Clearview's General Manager Blaine Gahagan would not discuss potential tenants for the Dillard's building as lease negotiations continue. But he says the mall has found a major retailer, new to the local market, to fill the spot and hopes to wrap up the lease by year-end.
A spokeswoman for Target would not confirm whether the chain is looking at Clearview but says the company studies 200 to 300 sites and opens about 75 stores per year.
Dillard's said recently that it would vacate its three-story Clearview store by July 2001. The Little Rock, Ark., department store chain took
over the store after it acquired the Maison Blanche chain in 1998.
Dillard's already had successful stores at nearby Lakeside Shopping Center and at The Esplanade Mall in Kenner. Real estate observers had speculated since the Maison Blanche purchase that the Clearview store might close.
They have...