Rouses emerges from supermarket to become home-grown marketplace

Formerly known as Rouses Supermarket, the independent grocery chain has dropped the “super” to better reflect future marketing strategies.

When Rouses became an Epicurean-style grocery store in 2000, management decided to offer more goods and services than are normally offered in town marketplaces.

“After nearly 50 years in business, we saw that Rouses had evolved into something much greater than just providing residents with household groceries. It has become a full-fledged marketplace,” said Rouses Marketing Director Tim Acosta, whose wife Cindy is the daughter of the chain’s founder, Anthony Rouse Sr.

Rouses got its start in Houma in the 1950s as Ciro’s Supermarket. A family business from the outset, it was named after Anthony Sr.’s cousin, Ciro DeMarco.

The two men grew up in the food distribution industry. Anthony Sr. learned about fresh produce at his father’s side. J.P. Rouse owned a produce shipping business.

Today the Rouses ship their goods through 35 stores across south Louisiana and the Mississippi coast.

Acosta views Rouses Market as a true Louisiana business, supplying state produce, including freshly harvested fruits and vegetables and freshly-caught south Louisiana seafood.

“We are helping out our fellow Louisianans by putting their products in our stores as well as ensuring that our customers are getting the best possible product that is always fresh,” said Allison Rouse, customer service manager for the grocery chain.

The granddaughter of Anthony Sr., Allison represents the third generation of Rouses. Her father, Tommy, and uncle, Donald, now run the family-owned operation, although Anthony Sr. is still known to drop by and check on the business.

The move from community grocery store to marketplace is in keeping with the principles on which Anthony Sr. founded the business, she said. Anthony Sr. built a name for Rouses by providing quality goods to customers.

Today, the family grocery store gets its “marketplace” aspect by doing much the same thing, Acosta explained.

“Everything is done right in our backyard,” he said. “We buy fresh and we buy local. That’s our motto.”

The market conversion marked the first of many changes for Rouses. Allison said the company is starting to build shopping centers containing Rouses Markets, restaurants and boutiques.

“Our long-term plan is to attract more people to the store,” she said. “We are continuing to grow as a company every year. The older locations won’t have shopping centers, but the newer locations will.”

In addition to operations in Houma and Thibodaux, Rouses has shopping center-style stores in Mandeville, Slidell and Youngsville, which is located just outside of Lafayette.

Gov. Bobby Jindal visited one of Rouses’ Thibodaux stores in late 2008 to help announce the opening of the Youngsville store – and the employment of approximately 175 people there.

“Everyone is going to be amazed when they see the new store,” said Donny Rouse, the son of co-owner Donald. “We have incorporated some new and innovative ideas for the new store.”

Jindal touted the Rouses for continuing to expand their home-grown business. “What makes this announcement so important to our state is not only are they hiring more people, but they sell Louisiana-made goods in their stores.”

“This is the first location that we have built from the ground up since 2007,” Allison explained. “Though we do have a lot of older style grocery stores, we are constantly modernizing them to have a fresher look so that they can be more appealing to customers, like the Epicurean-style look.”

Before the Youngsville store opened, the St. Tammany Parish locations were the two newest Rouses Market stores.

And that was just the beginning of the store’s expansion.

In 2007, Rouses acquired 17 Sav-a-Center grocery stores, expanding its operations to the Mississippi Gulf Coast area.

“Buying out Sav-a-Center grocery gave us a right-of-way to Mississippi,” Acosta said. “We took those chains and turned them into Rouses.”

With the buyout, Rouses became the largest Louisiana-owned grocery retailer.

Today, the chain employs nearly 5,000 workers, which includes several members of the Rouse family tree.

“We are here in the business, we are part of the community,” Donald added. “We understand what the people in southeast Louisiana like to eat and what they enjoy. We provide the best products at the best prices.”

Rouses will mark its golden anniversary next year.