Three years after Hurricane Katrina, it's pretty much business as usual for most retailers operating across the metropolitan New Orleans marketplace. But there are patches in the Louisiana city — primarily minority areas in Orleans Parish — still in need of neighborhood supermarkets that just aren't opening up, according to local observers.

Efforts are under way, however, to encourage local entrepreneurs to open stores in some neglected parts of the city — possibly, some have suggested, as a way for minority owners from within the community to open stores to serve their own communities.

With fewer supermarkets in operation across the city and a smaller population base, most stores in the New Orleans area are enjoying significant sales increases — although the search for adequate store labor is tough and wages are climbing as retailers attempt to attract an adequate workforce, observers told SN.

According to the Prevention Research Center at Tulane University, the metropolitan area, which had approximately 38 supermarkets before Hurricane Katrina, now has 18, while the population has dropped from 456,000 to 324,000 — a loss of 132,000 residents, or almost one-third — as some residents who left have chosen not to return.

The area's 38 supermarkets averaged about 12,000 residents per store, the statistics indicate, compared with a national average of 8,800 per store; with 18 supermarkets left, the average in New Orleans has risen to about 18,000 residents per store.

But with shifting populations and fewer stores to choose from, area consumers are finding new places to shop, “and there are enough retailers to pick up the surplus,” Jay Campbell, president and chief executive officer of Associated Grocers, Baton Rouge, La., told SN.

“It's like pouring a gallon of water into a half-gallon jug — there's going to be an overflow, but the grocers are loving it because sales per square foot have gone through the roof and many retailers are doing better business than ever.

“But the area was probably over-stored before Katrina,” Campbell acknowledged.

Among local residents who left and did not return, 30% to 40% were minorities, local sources indicated. And for the minority residents who stayed behind or who moved back, the situation remains “very challenging and difficult,” Barry Breaux, chairman and CEO of Breaux Mart, Metairie, La., told SN.

“But it's an issue a lot of people are not comfortable talking about,” he added. “A lot of the neighborhoods [without grocery stores] are neighborhoods where the operators didn't want to go back after Katrina, so there are voids in a lot of areas.”

Pockets Of Opportunity
According to Campbell, there are opportunities to be had. “There are certain communities where operators can find good locations and where their stores would be well received. There are definitely pockets where new stores would be very much appreciated,” he told SN.

Among those working to help figure out how to bring operators back into the inner city are Roy Zuppardo, vice president, operations, for Metairie, La.-based Zuppardo's Supermarket. He's a member of the Food Policy Advisory Commission sponsored by Tulane's Prevention Research Center.