Stores No Longer Inside The Prien Lake Mall In Lake Charles

I was sitting around talking to my friend Mike Soileau and we were talking about the Prien Lake Mall and the changes over the years. This is Mike's hometown and he's been here his entire life. I moved here in 2001 and I have seen plenty of stores come and go. It made me decide to put together a list of stores that are no longer inside the mall and honestly some of these have gone out of business completely.

Macy's

The excitement when this store first came to the area was very high. I have gone shopping along with my wife as well and have come away with some great purchases. Unfortunately, it seems as if they were gone just as quickly as they opened.

Sears

This was the place in my hometown in Meridian where I actually received one of my first credit cards. Sears was the spot where you could literally get bedding for the home and a new set of tires. While there are still a few in some places. We lost our store here a few years ago.

Suncoast Video

When it came to movies and other miscellaneous items, this was the place to be. I used to go in this store and just browse for hours through the DVDs and usually would leave with more than I planned to buy in the first place.

Radio Shack

If I needed a cassette to record off of the radio or just a wire to finish connecting a VCR or DVD, this was the place to go to. Once it got to the point where you could order these things online and have them shipped to your home. This was the beginning of the end for the once-in-demand store for geeks of electronics like myself.

Gap

This was a store mostly for the young men and ladies, but their catalog was great for casual wear or something for the summer. While they thrived for years, it seemed like other entities caused them to close their store here in Lake Charles.

Montgomery Ward

Before you could shop online and get your bedding, furniture, and other items. You could visit the Prien Lake Mall and shop until you drop. I am sure everyone's parents had an account with Montgomery Ward and would knock out most of their holiday shopping there.

Musicland

If you loved music, this is the place you would pick up your favorite cassette or CDs from your favorite artist during the time when people actually were outside the door at 10 in the morning waiting for the doors to open so that they could say they had it first.

K-B Toys

Another store that was doomed once online shopping became the thing. I remember the kids would love to go to this place. Many times we all had to get the reminder that our parents weren't buying anything, but hey, it didn't hurt to look right?

Waldenbooks

My past time aside from listening to music was picking up a book and Waldenbooks was the place to go. Regardless of what you were interested in reading, you could find it inside this book store that preceded many others and was based in malls around the world.

Chess King

For all of the fashions that you would see on the television shows, this was the go-to spot. Their parent company was Merry Go Round which also did very well. The clothing was catered towards young men ages 12 to 20 and when I tell you we were dressed to the nine, there was nothing you could tell us with our new outfit from Chess King.

Orange Bowl

I have never heard about this place, but Mike spoke highly of it and said they served Pizza, Twistee Freeze, and other joys that would drive the parents crazy as the kids would want it all.

Aladdin's Castle

This was the arcade inside the mall. One of my favorite games was the air hockey game and I would stay in there for hours. Sure we have online gaming now, but there was nothing like a great Saturday hanging out with your friends inside the arcade.

What are stores can you think of that are no longer here inside the Prien Lake Mall?