Retail

New Orleans Retail Attraction

A flour­ish­ing urban mar­ket and vibrant tourist traf­fic set the scene for unprece­dented retail growth in Orleans Parish.

With roughly $400 mil­lion in leak­age from the city, oppor­tu­ni­ties abound in New Orleans for retail. NOLABA is work­ing with retail­ers and devel­op­ers to cre­ate well planned, well exe­cuted retail oppor­tu­ni­ties in all areas of Orleans Parish. Estab­lished bou­tique shop­ping cor­ri­dors such as Mag­a­zine Street and the French Quar­ter con­tinue to thrive, and plans are under­way for excit­ing new retail devel­op­ments in the CBD, New Orleans East, Algiers, Gen­tilly, and other neigh­bor­hoods in the city. Local, regional, and national retail­ers and real estate devel­op­ers are rec­og­niz­ing that New Orleans offers a wide range of growth opportunities.

NOLA BA’s Retail Attrac­tion activ­i­ties entail:

  • Iden­ti­fy­ing and cat­a­logu­ing retail gaps in the city’s com­mer­cial corridors
  • Main­tain­ing and mak­ing avail­able updated demo­graphic and foot traf­fic data
  • Iden­ti­fy­ing national, regional and local retail­ers who are inter­ested in expand­ing their con­cepts in Orleans Parish
  • Edu­cat­ing retail­ers and the real estate com­mu­nity on the oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able in the revi­tal­ized and unique Orleans Parish com­mer­cial corridors
  • Serv­ing as the offi­cial liai­son between the City of New Orleans and prospec­tive retail­ers and real estate developers
  • Work­ing with part­ner orga­ni­za­tions to ensure retail­ers can seam­lessly enter the market
  • Pro­vid­ing the oppor­tu­nity for an increased sales tax base in Orleans Parish
  • Attend­ing ICSC con­ven­tions and other retail net­work­ing events to spread the word that New Orleans is ripe for unprece­dented retail growth, and
    gen­er­ates leads for prospec­tive retail devel­op­ment in the city
  • Attract­ing qual­ity retail options to under­served communities
  • Work­ing with the real estate bro­ker­age and devel­op­ment com­mu­ni­ties to encour­age the devel­op­ment and ren­o­va­tion of spaces as a pre­emp­tive means of attract­ing retail investment.


Retail spend­ing in New Orleans is return­ing to its pre-Katrina lev­els, indi­cat­ing a healthy and grow­ing retail mar­ket ready for increased invest­ment.

Retail spend­ing in New Orleans dropped in late 2005 and 2006, but has quickly rebounded. In esti­mates from City of New Orleans reported sales-tax col­lec­tions, 2010 sales were approx­i­mately $5.1 bil­lion, which is 99.5% of pre-Katrina 2004 fig­ures, indi­cat­ing a strong return of retail to the city. More impor­tantly, this mile­stone was achieved with a smaller population-New Orleans expe­ri­enced a 34% increase in sales per capita com­pared to 2004.

Every New Orleans neigh­bor­hood has a dis­tinct cul­ture and flavor–perfectly suited to a wide vari­ety of retail­ers and restaurateurs.

For a more com­plete list of New Orleans neigh­bor­hoods, their pro­files and retail needs, visit our Neigh­bor­hoods page.

Con­tact Brenda Canada: bcanada@nolaba.org, Direc­tor of Retail Attrac­tion, for more infor­ma­tion about retail devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in Orleans Parish.