[5] Mervyn's announced plans in late 1986 to join the mall as a sixth anchor, with the store opening July 17, 1987.

The issue was exacerbated when Towne Center at Cedar Lodge opened 3 miles away on Corporate Boulevard in 2005, causing many stores with duplicate Cortana locations to close or not renew their leases.

[8] When May Properties purchased the McRae's (in Cortana) and Parisian (in the Mall of Louisiana) in 2001, the two stores reopened as Foley's on March 28, 2001.

Service Merchandise closed in early 2002 when the chain went bankrupt, leaving the anchor slot vacant until Steve & Barry's opened in 2004.

Steve and Barry's closed as a result of the recession in 2009, leaving the space vacant for one year until Virginia College opened its Baton Rouge campus in the former store.

In 2013, Moonbeam Equities of Las Vegas, NV purchased the mall's inline tenants and the old Mervyn's for $6 million.

During the late 2010s, Cortana Mall experienced retail freefall with numerous anchor and inline tenant closures.

As of March 2016, the mall anchors were: Sears, Dillard's Clearance Center, JCPenney, Macy's, and Virginia College.

Moonbeam put the property up for sale for $4 million in August 2017 but took the listing off the market in October 2018 due to lack of interest.

By the end of July 2019, Bath and Body Works closed, and the remaining tenants were ordered to vacate the premises by September 15, 2019.

The Baton Rouge Business Report stated there is a possible deal that Amazon may move their distribution center operations to the mall.