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Retail in Louisiana can be described using the Central Business District core and frame as described by _(XX)_. The core is not very big in most cities. That is why there are taller buildings in the centers- the buildings are built vertically. Parking is not easily found here, but sidewalks are most often available. Office buildings and retail sales are usually located here. Outside the core is the frame. Most buildings are not as tall and require an automobile to get to them. This is usually where the buses run because there are many residential neighborhoods in the frame. Hospitals, public health clinics, and public and private health care services are also in the frame. The next "layer" is a miscellaneous layer. It contains drug stores, flower shops, and pharmacies. There is much competition in this area. There is usually an agglomeration here, also. Another general layout plan involves malls. This includes both competitive stores and agglomerations.

Shopping malls are generally on the outskirts of towns near interstates and are laid out horizontally instead of vertically. Most malls have large department stores on the ends with smaller stores on the inside. This helps the smaller stores because when someone goes from department store to department store, he or she is almost forced to look into the smaller stores. Clothes stores compete with other clothes stores, but the shoe stores need the clothes stores and vice versa. It is also much more convenient for shoppers. Most malls are now including restaurants and movie theaters. It is like a Wal-Mart in that it has "one-stop-shopping" minus the grocery store. There is usually an absurdly tremendous amount of parking that is relatively safe.

Another type of shopping district can be called a "commercial ribbon" or more accurately a theme district. Think about your town. Is there an area of your town that sells things that are for one particular item? For instance, is there a strip of a road that has most of the car lots? Is there a restaurant row? Most likely, there is. These are usually beneficial to the consumers. When there are four gas stations on the corners of an intersection, are you more likely to go to the cheapest one or the most expensive one? The answer is obvious. Most of these districts have an agglomeration. Take the car lots, for example. When there are car lots everywhere, it is likely that a tire shop, an auto parts shop, and a few gas stations will be pretty close by.

So, why do the downtowns in some towns look terrible? Well, many people have moved to the outskirts of towns. Many business people thought that it would be a good idea to open stores near these new neighborhoods. They were absolutely right! Why not shop closer to home? Well, there is a problem with this. The downtown stores lose their business. Take for instance, Monroe. Its downtown used to draw people even from out of town to shop. When a shopper goes downtown now, it looks more like a ghost town. There are little boutiques throughout the town plus a mall with stores like the Gap, American Eagle, and soon, Abercrombie and Fitch. There is a definite advantage to shopping at the mall, that is why the downtown is so poor looking.

Retail in Louisiana is defined by boundaries of little cities and residential areas. The downtown areas have suffered greatly from the increased suburbanization, but many efforts are being made in towns across America to rebuild them and make them better. Most shopping areas, whether they are malls or shopping districts, stick to a plan. Most malls have the same floor plan (maybe not the same stores), and most cities have the same layout.