How Baton Rouge retailers are chasing foot traffic

Consumer sentiment is at an all-time low, so Baton Rouge retailers are looking for a way to “win the spend” and attract customers into their shops. 

That’s according to JRE’s Will Chadwick, who spoke at the annual Trends seminar sponsored by the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors on Thursday. 

Retailers are chasing foot traffic and opening in larger shopping centers that are anchored by national brands, where customers can shop multiple stores in one trip. He pointed to Barnes & Noble recently downsizing from its freestanding store in Citiplace to a smaller space in the Towne Center as an example. Perkins Rowe’s landlord also has a team that supports tenants, he says, and schedules events like food truck roundups. 

Notably, two of Baton Rouge’s largest shopping centers sold last year—Perkins Rowe and the Towne Center. Chadwick says area experts expect to see more large retail sales close as loan maturities loom. 

Looking ahead, the “coffee wars” will continue, he predicts. Coffee concepts like 7 Brew, Dutch Bros. Co. and Starbucks are the players paying the most for high-visibility parcels. A new phase of Juban Crossing is also set to take shape soon, with Target anchoring an eastward retail expansion and HomeGoods, Sierra and Burlington opening as junior anchors. 

The overall retail vacancy rate in Baton Rouge increased from 7.40% to 8.94% in spring 2026, according to the annual Trends report. Some 62% of surveyed centers reported vacancy rates of 10% or less. 

The highest vacancy rates were found in area convenience centers, while regional centers with larger tenants reported the lowest vacancy rates at 2.70%, a 1.06% decrease from last year. 

The dynamics impacting the local retail market are the same impacting markets nationally—mostly interest rates, building costs and economic uncertainty—and have slowed the supply of new storefronts and limited the amount of new retail being built, creating a tight leasing environment. As a result, vacancy rates are being reported at near-historic lows while rents continue to rise. 

With the strain on local supply, high-quality centers—particularly anchored by grocery, service or experiential tenants—are especially favorable and retail leasing remains strong. 

“Proximity to major thoroughfares and overall supply chain costs are major factors that retailers consider as they battle shrinking margins,” the retail committee writes in its Trends report. “As retailers saturate surrounding markets such as Houston and the Florida Panhandle, they look to areas like Baton Rouge, where distribution is already established.”