Rouses Supermarkets invasion into Alabama has began with the opening of stores in both Mobile and Gulf Shores. Photo: Rouses Facebook
Compiled from News Reports
Rouses Supermarkets invasion into Alabama has began with the opening of stores in both Mobile and Gulf Shores just in time for Lent.
One of the largest independent grocers in the South, the 91-year old Thibodaux, LA grocery chain took ownership of six Belle Foods stores from Associated Wholesale Grocers in September of 2013. Since then the stores have undergone complete renovation before reopening.
The stores seafood department is situated next to the butcher shop. More than a thousand pounds of Louisiana crawfish are boiled daily in the Alabama stores; each equipped with its own boiling room. Photo: Rouses Facebook
In a recent store opening in Mobile, more than 100 customers waited on a Sunday morning for the doors to open at 8 am.
Seeing the growing line, Donny Rouse, a third generation owner, unlocked the doors a half hour early stating in a interview, “Everything inside was ready and there were people already outside so we decided to open early.”
During the past 10-years the family-owned grocer has tripled its number of stores, growing into a regional competitor that competes with Walmart, which holds 25 percent of the U.S. market for groceries. Rouses has grown business by offering customers an experience that they can’t find at the retail giant.
Rouses’ success has been built on a diehard local-first business strategy, giving the store a leg up in an increasingly competitive industry. The company has relied on a host of local suppliers, and with its first stores opening in the Yellowhammer state; it has started a search for Alabama suppliers.
New shoppers were excited about the selection and quality of merchandise in the new neighbor stores. Choice and selection have been what sets Rouses apart from other grocery stores, according to a company spokesperson.
During the past month, five stores in Alabama have been opened.
The stores seafood department is situated next to the butcher shop. More than a thousand pounds of Louisiana crawfish are boiled daily in the Alabama stores; each equipped with its own boiling room. The seafood case is stocked with whole Gulf fish, Gulf oysters, crabs and crabmeat, and wild-caught Louisiana shrimp and Florida Royal Red shrimp.
In a recent store opening in Mobile, more than 100 customers waited on a Sunday morning for the doors to open at 8 am. Dignitaries line up for the ribbon cutting at the new Theodore store. Photo: Rouses Facebook
According to Rouse, “People in southern Alabama have always been interested in buying Louisiana seafood. They just never had a place where they could get.”
Tommy Delaune, President of Tommy’s Seafood in Chalmette, LA said Rouses Markets’ expansion into Alabama is good news for everyone. “Fishermen across the Gulf Coast are excited about this. They know what it means for them and the economy. Rouses’ support keeps our Gulf Coast fishermen working.”
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