New Orleans is beginning to attract national retailers

[FlyGirl]

With a few recent retail wins, economic development officials and real estate professionals say that the prospect for getting more national stores into New Orleans is looking up. In May, after months of speculation that the shopping club Costco Wholesale Corp. would come to New Orleans, the city officially announced the retailer's plans to open at the former Carrollton Shopping Center in 2013. On Wednesday, the New Orleans Business Alliance and the Downtown Development District announced that Major League Baseball hat retailer New Era Cap Co. Inc. will open a flagship store on Canal Street before the 2013 Super Bowl, adding New Orleans to an impressive list of cities around the globe.

http://www.nola.com/business/index.s...l#incart_river

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...755988324.html

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"New Orleans is in the midst of a mini tech boom, as young "nerds with laptops" are moving from New York, San Francisco and elsewhere to staff established digital businesses and start-ups, said Chris Schultz, the 37-year-old co-founder of Launch Pad, the New Orleans tech incubator where Mr. Conrad rents a desk to work on the company he founded, Red Ticket Games Inc.

"A metric of technology jobs generated by Moody's Analytics—a broad category that includes everything from pharmaceuticals manufacturers to software publishers—shows New Orleans's stock of tech jobs grew 19% from October 2005 to April 2012, compared with 3% nationwide.

"Companies from start-ups to large established entities are expanding or setting up shop here, drawn by a state tax credit that is offered to digital-media and software firms.

"Between 2008 and 2010, 69 projects qualified for the tax credit, according to BaxStarr Consulting Group LLC, up from five between 2005 and 2007. The tax credit covers 25% of companies' production costs and 35% of payroll expenses for employees who live in Louisiana."