Rouses Opening 1st Ground-up Mississippi Store

The Rouses Markets store opening Wednesday, Dec. 14 in Diamondhead, Miss., will feature such amenities as a café offering chef-inspired meals and indoor and outdoor seating, a fresh sushi station, a full salad bar, a walk-in beer cooler, and a room dedicated exclusively to boiling Gulf Coast seafood. As well as being the Thibodaux, La.-based grocer’s first new construction project in Mississippi, the newly built 30,000-square-foot store at 4407 East Aloha Drive replaces an adjacent 19,000-square-foot site acquired by Rouses in August 2008.

“It’s the first opportunity for Mississippi customers to experience the type of store we build from the ground up,” said Donny Rouse of family-owned Rouses, which employs 5,200 associates and has 38 locations in Louisiana and Mississippi. “There’s a lot of excitement. People have been peeking in the windows to see what’s going on inside.”

When the new store officially opens, customers can partake of coffee, pastries and finger sandwiches following the 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Additional store features include a full-service butcher shop and bakery with signature cakes, pastries and artisan breads; expanded local and health-and-wellness items; enhanced produce, deli, floral, and seafood departments; a broad assortment of hard-to-find specialty items; and what Rouses characterizes as the largest supermarket selection of local, domestic, imported, microbrewed and craft beers on the Gulf Coast.

The Diamondhead market is the fourth new store Rouses has opened in 2011.