Prien Lake Mall is an enclosed, regional
shopping mall in
Lake Charles, Louisiana which serves 344,268 people.[2] It is located on West Prien Lake Road and is highly visible from
Interstate 210. The Mall is named after
Prien Lake, which is one of the lakes in the city of
Lake Charles. When it opened in 1972[3] with 35 stores,[4] many retailers from downtown Lake Charles relocated to the mall leading to
urban blight in the downtown area.[5] The anchor store on opening was
Montgomery Ward.[6] The mall was extended with a new wing opening in 1998,[7] increasing floorspace to 800,000 sq. ft. including a new food court and
Sears store,[8] which closed in 2018.[9] In 2001 an Educational Resource Centre was approved for opening in the mall with federal funding from the
US Department of Education's
Community Technology Centers Program.[10] It provides adult education and English classes.[11] In that same year,
Houston-based
Foley's came to the mall with a new store built, only to rebrand as
Macy's five years later. Macy's only lasted at the mall for a year until it closed in early 2008. By 2009, Kohl's replaced the former Macy's building. The anchor stores are
Dillard's,
Dick's Sporting Goods,
Kohl's,
JCPenney,
TJ Maxx,
HomeGoods, and
Cinemark Theatres.