The Mall of Acadiana is the main shopping venue in Lafayette. It features four department stores. Those include: Sears, JC Penney, Dillard's, and Macy*s. The mall was opened in the late 70s/early 80s, and had a major renovation in 2004-2005. The mall contains many fashion-forward tenants such as Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, Chico's, Nine West, abercrombie, Coldwater Creek, Talbots, Strasburg Children, Express, Eddie Bauer, Mimi Maternity, and Hollister Co. It also contains exciting retailers Build-A-Bear Workshop and Brookstone. The food court hosts a wide range of foods from Chick-Fil-A to Sarku Japan. For a complete list of retailers/eateries you can check out the mall's website at http://www.mallofacadiana.com.

    An up-and-coming shopping venue called The Market at River Ranch is under construction in Lafayette. The Market will be a lifestyle center with the buildings' ground floors offering retail spaces with the upper floors containing condos and apartments. The only tenants open thus far are Bonefish Grill and CVS Pharmacy. However, tenants slated to open currently are: Another Broken Egg Cafe, CC's Coffeehouse, The Fresh Market, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Jos. A. Banks, and Ann Taylor LOFT with more to be announced shortly.

    Another cool thing about Lafayette is that they participate in Louisiana Tax Free Shopping (LTFS) which provides international visitors refunds of sales tax on items purchased from participating retailers. These items, however, must be tangible and must leave not only Louisiana but also the country with the visitor.

For more information on LTFS and Lafayette Shopping, click here.