[1][2] He followed the model of pioneering department stores in Paris and New York City to offer his customers the best products and services.

Meeting under its clock, located on the Canal Street facade, was a popular rendezvous when this part of the city was a major shopping area.

[2] In the first scene of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, the character Ignatius Reilly agrees to meet his mother at the clock.

[3] In the 1970s the store employed artist Charles Kerbs, who designed an Art Nouveau-style mural for the company as well as elaborate holiday window displays.

It completed a major renovation of all guest rooms, lobby, swimming pool, bar, and meeting spaces in May 2012, and is now the Hyatt French Quarter Hotel, managed by HRI Lodging.