Economy of Shreveport
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[edit] Economy of Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport was once a major player in United States oil business and at one time could boast Standard Oil of Louisiana as a locally based company. The Louisiana branch was later absorbed by Standard Oil of New Jersey. In the 1980s, the oil and gas industry suffered a large economic downturn, and many companies cut back jobs or went out of business. Shreveport suffered severely from this recession, and many residents left the area.
Today the city is a busy metropolitan city, hosting various riverboat casinos, and it is second only to New Orleans in Louisiana tourism. Nearby Bossier City is home to one of the three horse racetracks in the state, Harrah's Louisiana Downs. Casinos in Shreveport-Bossier include Sam's Town Casino, Eldorado Casino, Horseshoe Casino, Boomtown Casino, and Diamond Jacks Casino (formerly Isle of Capri). The Shreveport-Bossier Convention & Tourist Bureau is the official tourism information agency for the region. The bureau maintains a comprehensive database of restaurants, accommodations, attractions and events at www.shreveport-bossier.org
In May 2005, the Louisiana Boardwalk, a 550,000 square foot (51,000 m²) shopping and entertainment complex, opened across the Red River in Bossier City, featuring outlet shopping, several restaurants, a 14 screen movie theater, a bowling complex, and a Bass Pro Shop. A new 350,000 square-foot convention center was recently completed in downtown Shreveport with an 800 space parking garage. An adjoining 12-story Hilton Hotel is under construction and slated for completion in September 2006. The Shreveport Convention Center is managed by SMG, the world leader in private management of public facilities.
Shreveport was largely unaffected by Hurricane Katrina; however, it did accommodate many evacuees from Southern Louisiana. Since Shreveport is approximately 200 miles (300 km) inland, there has been speculation that some New Orleans residents and businesses who want to move away from the coast in fear of further hurricanes may relocate to the northern part of the state, centered around Shreveport.
In 2005, Steelscape announced it would open one of the largest steel plants in North America on the Port of Shreveport-Bossier and be operational in March 2006.
Shreve Systems is here and visible from the Interstate.
General Motors has established a large plant in Shreveport. The Shreveport plant manufactures the Hummer H3 SUV, and the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon trucks.
Softdisk, a software and Internet company, was founded in Shreveport in 1981 and published various disk magazines in the 1980s and 1990s, which occasionally included early games by the founders of Apogee Software. The founders of id Software also worked there and lived in Shreveport in the early 1990s.
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