Mac’s Fresh Market, a grocery chain that operates in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, has opened its newest store in West Monroe, Louisiana.
The store, which is the 18th for the chain, marks “the latest in a barrage of grocery store openings and renovations in the Ouachita Parish market during the past 18 months from Mac’s, Walmart and Brookshire Grocery Co., according to The News-Star.
“Let’s just say it’s highly competitive,” Reggy McDaniel, whose company is headquartered in northeastern Louisiana, told the newspaper. “Every time you look up somebody is building another one.”
The new 26,000-s.f. Mac’s, which opened in late May, is located at the intersection of Arkansas and Kiroli roads, the closest full-service grocery to the vast residential subdivisions north of Arkansas Road.
“It’s a really good location at the fork of those two roads,” McDaniel told the Star.
According to the newspaper, McDaniel began the flurry of openings with the company’s Drew community store in spring 2014 in western Ouachita Parish.
But he was soon trumped by Walmart, which opened four of its Neighborhood Market stores simultaneously earlier this year, fueling a fierce ramp-up of competition.
Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co., which employs about 1,300 workers in northeastern Louisiana, has been trying to keep pace by renovating many of its 15 stores in the region under the Brookshire’s and Super One brands.
Brookshire’s also operates a regional distribution center at the Monroe Air Industrial Park. It’s in the middle of a renovation at the North 18th Street Brookshire’s in Monroe that’s set for a summer completion.
“We’re going to continue to improve our facilities, but at the end of the day we’re sticking with our strategy of taking care of customers, and I think that’s what we do better than anybody else,” Rick Rayford, chief executive of Brookshire’s, told the Star in April.
But it’s not just the traditional grocery companies competing, the Star reports.
“Everybody’s in the grocery business, from the dollar stores to the discount stores,” McDaniel said.
Bob Eisenstadt, director of the University of Louisiana at Monroe Center for Business and Economic Research, said consumers—and employees—will benefit while the retailers duke it out.
“It raises the competitive bar for service, pricing and labor,” he told the Star. “Competition is always good for consumers. It forces businesses to offer more choices, better service and keeps prices from rising as rapidly.”
McDaniel is marketing his freshly butchered meat, produce selection and service to elevate his brand.
“We’re carrying as much variety of produce as we possibly can and we believe we offer the best quality meat available,” he said. “We’ve been blessed with a great reception so far.”
