After seven years at 632 St. Peter Street, Fleurty Girl’s French Quarter store must close, becoming the latest New Orleans icon to be pushed out of their longtime location.
According to store owner Lauren LeBlanc Haydel, the historic building, once home to Tennessee Williams, sold for $2.1 million ($400k above the property value). The owner agreed to allow the shop to stay open 30 more days, through French Quarter Fest.
“The floor was spinning as I listened to the other end of the phone in disbelief. Seven years. The memories. My sweet employees. The people. The hard work. All of it. GONE. In one phone call.”
Leblanc-Haydel stated that the other five Fleurty Girl stores in the city remain open and that in six months the shop should reopen in the French Quarter as well.
“We’ll do our best to keep the jobs for our employees of that store, but during that time, we’re going to miss our French Quarter regulars and visitors and those carriage drivers yelling, ‘Stella!’ as they passed our door with a load full of boozed-out touristic passengers.”
This is just the latest in a number of changes coming to New Orleans. Earlier this month developers from Orange Lake Resorts announced that they purchased the historic Maritime Building in the Central Business District, and will be turning it into 105 timeshare villas. In addition, the Beauty Plus on Elysian Fields Ave. announced they will be forced to close after being told their rent will triple. In the same neighborhood, the owners of Gene’s PoBoys put their building up for sale for $5 million.
“Things are changing,” Leblanc-Hadel writes. “Pay attention. Parts of places we know and love are being bought and sold at prices way out of our reach to a bidder we cannot possibly compete with.”
Jenn Bentley is a writer and editor originally from Cadiz, Kentucky. Her writing has been featured in publications such as The Examiner, The High Tech Society, FansShare, Yahoo News, and others. When she’s not writing or editing, Jenn spends her time raising money for Extra Life and advocating for autism awareness.
