Lake Forest Plaza was a shopping mall in New Orleans East, Louisiana, United States that opened in 1974.
The plaza was once the largest shopping mall in the state of Louisiana with approximately 1,200,000 sq ft (110,000 m2) of retail space.
As well as the food court outlets (Taco Loco, Flame-N-Burger, Hook Line & Sinker, Orange Julius, Karmelkorn, Baskin Robbins, Corn Dog 7, China Express, Great American Cookie Co., etc.
The decor was entirely brown-tiled floors, tiled walls, wood benches, real live trees, and tons of skylights.
Original stores included the first Gap store in the area, Leonard Krower, Godchaux’s, Morrisons Cafeteria, Sizzler Steakhouse, the first ever Chick-Fil-A in the state, Swiss Colony, Shoe Lodge, Dannys, The Ranch, the ever-popular Farrells Ice Cream Parlor Restaurant, Gordons, Florsheim, National Shirts, GNC (also a first), Bakers, 5-7-9, Merry Go Round, Imperial Shoes, Porter Stevens, Rubenstein Brothers, All American Jeans, Spencers, Limited, Hickory Farms, Hibernia Bank, Bank of New Orleans, a huge McDonald's, Space Port, Wicks 'N' Sticks, Tinder Box, Walgreens (with a cafeteria), Hausmann's, B. Dalton, Collage, Brentano's (outlet of the famous New York City store), Gryders Shoes, Ponsetis Shoes, Oshmans, Fiesta Mexican Restaurant, Lerners, Kay Bee Toys, Vision Plaza, Halpern's Fabrics, etc.
The mall thrived until about the late 1980s when the economic downturn of southern Louisiana after the "oil bust" took an especially heavy toll on New Orleans East.
Just prior to Katrina, the mall was left with only one large anchor in the former Maison Blanche building, which became a Dillard's when they bought out the MB stores.
The rest of the site is to be redeveloped into a new "town center" type of development with free standing stores, garages, hotels, apartments and condos.