View source for Maison Blanche

{{Short description|Department store in New Orleans, US}}
{{other}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Maison Blanche|
| logo = Maison Blanche Department Store Final Logo.png|
| type = [[privately held company|private]]
| fate = Acquired by [[Dillard's]] or locations sold to [[Foley's]]|
| successor = [[Dillard's]] (1998-present) <br>  or [[Foley's]] (1998-2006) now [[Macy's]] (2006-present)
| foundation = 1897|
| defunct = 1998|
| location = [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana]]|
| industry = [[Retail]]|
| products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares|
| parent = Formerly [[Mercantile Stores Company, Inc.]](1992-1998)
| homepage = None|
}}

'''Maison Blanche'''  ({{IPA|fr|mɛzɔ̃ blɑ̃ʃ|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-WikiLucas00-Maison Blanche.wav}}, ''White House'') was a [[department store]] in [[New Orleans|New Orleans, Louisiana]], and later also a chain of department stores.  It was founded in 1897 by Isidore Newman, an immigrant from Germany.<ref>[http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2001-12-25/blake.html Blake Ponchartrain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102230214/http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2001-12-25/blake.html |date=2007-01-02 }}, ''Gambit Weekly'', December 25, 2001. Last retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref>

Maison Blanche is perhaps best remembered for introducing the locally popular [[Mr. Bingle]] Christmas mascot and for its landmark flagship store on [[Canal Street, New Orleans|Canal Street]].<ref>[http://www.mrbinglefans.com/nativearticle.shtml Native Mr. Bingle, The Hometown Tradition], ''New Orleans Magazine'', December 1989. Last retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref>

[[File:Maison Blanche New Orleans 1976 by Leon Winer.JPG|right|thumb|Outside the Maison Blanche department store on Canal Street, 1976]]

==Corporate history==
Maison Blanche was acquired in 1923 by [[City Stores]] Company, which merged Maison Blanche with [[Loveman's of Alabama|Loveman's]] in 1950.  City Stores Co. filed for bankruptcy in July 1979.  While in bankruptcy, they initially intended to consolidate the seven Maison Blanche stores with four [[Lowenstein's|B. Lowenstein]]'s stores in [[Memphis, Tennessee]], to form the Maison Blanche Department Stores group, but in early 1982 the Memphis stores were shuttered.

Instead, three of the seven existing Maison Blanche stores, as well as the name, were purchased by [[Goudchaux's]], Inc. of [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]], owned by the Sternberg brothers.  Operating as Goudchaux/Maison Blanche, the new company eventually reopened the original Canal Street flagship in 1984, leasing three floors from the new owners.

[[File:CanalMaisonBlanchBldg1898.jpg|left|thumb|Old Maison Blanche building in 1898]]
In the late 1980s, [[May Department Stores]] abandoned [[Florida]] by selling two chains, which allowed the company to enter the fast-growing [[Florida]] market.  In 1987, the 10-unit [[Robinson's of Florida]] on Florida's Gulf Coast ([[Tyrone Square Mall]], [[University Mall (Tampa, Florida)|University Square Mall]], [[WestShore Plaza]], [[Westfield Countryside|Countryside Mall]], [[Westfield Siesta Key|Southgate Plaza]], [[Edison Mall]], and [[Coastland Center]]) and Orlando ([[Orlando Fashion Square]], [[Altamonte Mall]], and [[The Florida Mall]]), plus an 11th at [[Lakeland Square Mall]] were sold to them. A year later, they also bought the 5-unit Jacksonville-based "May Florida" (formerly [[May Cohens]]) by taking over three Jacksonville stores (Roosevelt Square, [[Regency Square (Jacksonville)|Regency Square]], and [[Orange Park Mall]]), and [[Volusia Mall]] in [[Daytona Beach]], while closing the [[Gateway Town Center|Gateway Mall]] location. The Goudchaux name was removed and all stores were renamed Maison Blanche. After opening 2 more stores in 1990-one replaced an existing store at Orlando Fashion Square and a 4th in Jacksonville at the brand new [[The Avenues (shopping mall)|Avenues Mall]]-the number of Florida stores were added to 16. However, both the rapid expansion and the oil-related recession in Louisiana proved to be too much for Maison Blanche to manage. In August 1991, eight stores on Florida's Gulf Coast were sold to [[Dillard's]], giving them those locations (Tyrone, university, WestShore, Countryside, Southgate, Edison, Coastland, and Lakeland). This also left MB with eight stores each in both [[Louisiana]] and Florida until [[Mercantile Stores]] Inc. purchased the 16-store unit in February 1992, thus converting the rest of their Florida stores to [[Gayfers]], which gained these units (Roosevelt, Regency, Fashion Square, Orange Park, Volusia, Altamonte, Florida, and Avenues).<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E5D6173EF937A25752C1A964958260 Mercantile Stores Co. reports earnings for Qtr to Oct 31], ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 14, 1992. Last retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref> The Louisiana stores continued to operate under the Maison Blanche name before Dillard's acquired Mercantile Stores in 1998. The Little Rock retailer subsequently closed the Canal Street store after briefly operating it.  The acquisition of Maison Blanche came nearly a decade after Dillard's had purchased another New Orleans area retail institution and Canal Street landmark—[[D.H. Holmes]].
[[Image:CanalSt3Oct07MBBuildingFromBarrone.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The Maison Blanche Building on Canal Street]]

[[Solari's]] gourmet food store operated a satellite location within the Canal Street location of Maison Blanche.<ref name="Magazine">{{cite news |last1=Paterson |first1=Seale |title=Grocery Matters: The History of Solari’s |url=https://www.myneworleans.com/grocery-matters-the-history-of-solaris/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |agency=New Orleans Magazine |issue=December 2013 |date=December 2, 2013}}</ref>

==Canal Street landmark==
Maison Blanche's original building was on Canal Street.  This was demolished around 1908.  A distinctive new building, which still stands, was constructed around 1908 to 1909.<ref>{{cite web|last=Friedman, Jr.|first=H. George|title=Canal Street: A Street Railway Spectacular, Picture 172|url=http://friedman.cs.illinois.edu/canal/Pic172.htm|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|access-date=August 27, 2021}}</ref> At one time there were many medical and dental offices in the top floors; later they became largely empty.

The Canal Street store was closed in 1982 by the City Stores Company and reopened in 1984.  In 1993, the New Orleans-based [[sludge metal]] band [[Eyehategod]] used the 13th floor of the building for the recording of their second album, ''[[Take as Needed for Pain]]''.<ref name="metalurges">{{cite web|last1=n/a|title=013 Eyehategod Biography|url=https://metalurgespodcast.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/013-eyehategod/|website=metalurgespodcast.wordpress.com|date=February 13, 2014|publisher=Metal Urges Podcast|accessdate=February 14, 2014}}</ref>  In 1997 work began to use the upper floors as part of a new [[Ritz-Carlton]] hotel.  The original plan was for the lower floors to continue to operate as a Maison Blanche department store.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010301021414/http://www.weeklywire.com/ww/07-08-97/gambit_cstory.html Downtown Rebound], ''Gambit Weekly'', July 8, 1997. Last retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref> However, after Dillard's acquired the store with the purchase of the remainder of the Maison Blanche chain, they closed the Canal Street store.  The whole building, along with the neighboring [[S. H. Kress & Co.|Kress]] building, is now part of the New Orleans Ritz Carlton, which had a grand opening on October 6, 2000.

The hotel was occupied during and immediately after [[Hurricane Katrina]].  It suffered considerable damage; for example the basement was flooded and the electrical systems, laundry, and staff cafeteria, among other things, were damaged.  The Ritz-Carlton reopened on December 4, 2006, after a $106 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=106000000|start_year=2006}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) refurbishment.<ref>[http://www.neworleansonline.com/news/2006/dec/ritzreopens.html Reinventing The Ritz], New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, December 2006. Last retrieved January 21, 2007.</ref>

==See also==
*[[D. H. Holmes]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Maison Blanche, New Orleans}}
{{Mercantile}}
{{Dillard's history}}
{{Macy's history}}

* Sternberg, Hans J. ''We Were Merchants: The Sternberg Family and the Story of Goudchaux's and Maison Blanche Department Stores''. Baton Rouge, LA.:[[Louisiana State University Press]], 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-8071-3449-8}}

[[Category:Companies based in New Orleans]]
[[Category:Defunct department stores based in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1897]]
[[Category:History of New Orleans]]
[[Category:Companies that have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy]]
[[Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1979]]
[[Category:Retail companies disestablished in 1998]]