New Orleans East should leave its beauty stores and tire shops alone, planners say

There is no oversaturation of beauty supply stores, tire stores or convenience stores in New Orleans East, and those businesses do not deter other economic development, according to a city study prompted by residents’ calls for more investment in the area.

The City Planning Commission’s study, completed in December at the City Council’s request, reviewed the share of those and other establishments in the East. It also considered whether imposing new zoning rules, such as distancing requirements, would limit the shops and, in turn, attract a wider array of retailers.

Planners reviewed active business licenses by council district. They found that in council District E and in a sliver of council District D – both of which make up the East – there were 115 nail salons, tire shops convenience stores and beauty supply stores.

But in District B – which is composed of Central City, Uptown and Mid-City – there were 137 of those shops. And District B has more tire, nail and convenience stores than does the East even when the population size of both areas is accounted for. 

Commission staff said that putting new limits on the businesses, which are often mom-and-pop shops, would be harmful, as there is no proof that their presence is shutting other retailers out.

“Staff were unable to ascertain a causal link between the perceived proliferation of the four types of establishments in New Orleans East and the dearth of other types of retail stores,” planners wrote.

Instead, to boost investment, the council could empower a task force to fine bad actors, such as tire shop owners that improperly dump tires. The council could also set up a development district, planners said. Such entities tax a portion of an area’s property owners and use the revenue to support economic growth in that area.

District E Councilmember Oliver Thomas, who co-sponsored the council’s push for the study, said the results were “interesting” and called for more investments in the area generally.

“At some point, the administration, along with our state officials and the community have to come together to look at the footprint of the East, the available land, its proximity to waterways, railways and interstates. What can we do to incentivize and attract economic opportunities?” he said.

Similar study

The commission’s findings come with caveats. Though planners said the East is not overrun with nail shops and other businesses, they did note that it has more of them than the city’s average, even when the East’s population size is accounted for. The exception was beauty supply stores, as there are fewer of those stores in the East on average, per capita, than elsewhere, the report noted.

Staff visits to the area also revealed several businesses that were not included in state data, reflecting potentially outdated information or businesses operating under expired licenses. Planners pulled license data from the state Revenue Department. 

The study comes six years after a similar commission study examined the prevalence of discount or “dollar” stores in the region and determined there was a concentration of stores that likely crowded out other food sellers. The commission recommended distance requirements between the stores, which was later approved by the council.

That study was also prompted by resident concerns that a proliferation of dollar stores was stopping the East from attracting other businesses.

“The difference there was we were able to establish there was an over-proliferation,” said City Planning Executive Director Robert Rivers at a December planning meeting. 

Those rules haven’t drawn a new full-line grocer to the East, however. And last year, discount chain Dollar General closed all five of its New Orleans East stores unexpectedly, affecting a footprint already littered with vacant store fronts and abandoned or partially occupied strip malls.

New recommendations

This time around, planners noted that while the East does have more tire shops, nail salons and convenience stores than the city does on average, other council districts have more of those stores than do District E and the portion of District D that is in the East.

The East has fewer small, independent beauty supply stores on average, per 50,000 residents, than elsewhere in the city. Planners noted that the presence of those stores in District B has not hindered other development there, as one such store, Beauty Express, is located a block away from the Magnolia Marketplace Development on South Claiborne Avenue. 

That retail hub, which houses TJ Maxx, Ulta, Ross Dress for Less and other stores, opened in 2015 after the council created an economic development district to incentivize its developer with sales tax dollars.

Planners noted that the city could create a similar district for the East using property taxes, similar to how the Downtown Development District operates downtown. That entity provides financial incentives for developers and does research and planning for the downtown area. 

The council could also also set up an enforcement task force that would have the authority to levy fines and other measures for business owners that violate existing rules, planners said.

Both suggestions will be explored in a 2025 update to the 2004 New Orleans East Renaissance Plan, created under former Mayor Ray Nagin’s administration to guide the region’s recovery post-Hurricane Katrina. At the request of Council member Oliver Thomas, the City Council allocated $1 million toward the plan this year, which will analyze transportation, infrastructure, safety, housing and other variables believed to have a bigger influence on where businesses choose to invest.

The new plan will look at New Orleans East “through a post-COVID-19 lens and with major developments on the horizon,” the City Planning Commission’s study said.

Among those major developments coming to the East is a $24 million renovation to historic Lincoln Beach — a beacon to Black residents during Jim Crow segregation that’s been closed since the 1960’s.

A release date for the new plan has not been announced.