Rouses Breaks Ground on 1st Baton Rouge, La., Store

Rouses Markets has begun construction of an innovative store on Airline Highway in the Long Farm Village Development in Baton Rouge, La. Bulldozers broke ground on the 55,000-square-foot site – the company’s first in the city – this week.

"We are very, very excited about opening in Baton Rouge," said Donald Rouse Sr., second-generation owner of the company. "We've had hundreds of requests to build a store in the area. Baton Rouge is clearly hungry for a Rouses Market."

According to Donny Rouse Jr., managing partner and real estate developer for Thibodaux, La.-based Rouses, a second Baton Rouge location is already under contract. "Long Farm is the kind of store a progressive city like Baton Rouge deserves," he asserts. "It's our most modern concept, completely interactive, with exposed kitchens and open departments that provide customers a view of how the store actually works."

"For years, we’ve been telling people how we work with local farmers and fishermen and manufacturers," adds Rouse Sr. "Now they can see the actual deliveries as they're received." Customers can also observe the grocer's butchers, bakers, florists and chefs and cooks at work. "We’re all about sharing what we do and what we make with our customers," he affirms.

Slated to open in summer 2016, Long Farm isn't the only new Rouses store on tap: a location on Williams Boulevard in Kenner, La., will open this February, while another in Ponchatoula, La., will make its debut in April.

"We're also breaking ground on a new location in our hometown of Thibodaux in early 2016," noted Rouse Sr. "My family's business started on the bayou, so this one has special meaning for us. We're building a brand-new store from the ground up for loyal Rouses customers who have shopped with us from the beginning."

Rouses operates nearly four dozen stores in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and employs more than 6,200 associates.