Former Borders space gets temporary tenant

The site of the former Borders store at the Mall of Louisiana, vacant since earlier this month, has temporarily been filled with a seasonal business. Halloween Express now has two locations open in Baton Rouge, including a store at 3651 Perkins Road. Mall of Louisiana General Manager Todd Denton says the store is one week into a six-week stay at the mall. Denton is mum on the identity of future tenants of this prominent space at the mall, but says, “We’re actively marketing it. There’s great interest in that great piece of real estate.” The mall is focusing less on seasonal fill-ins, he adds, and more on major retailers. “We’re looking for the right concept,” he says. “We hope to have [the space] occupied early in 2012, and open by summer.” The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, and closed all its stores across the country by mid-September. The Mall of Louisiana store was one of the anchors of the mall’s lifestyle center, which opened in August 2008. —Ian McGibboney