Rouses’ Leader Preps For First Baton Rouge Store Opening As Rebuilding Of Flooded Unit Begins

Donny Rouse stays busy, but his schedule has been especially challenging over the last several days.

The managing partner of Rouses Markets, the nearly 50-store chain based in Thibodaux, Louisiana, is getting renovations under way at the grocer’s Denham Springs unit, which was destroyed by the historic and deadly floods that inundated the southern portion of the Bayou State this week.

“We’ve been through this before with hurricanes,” Rouse said. “This time there was no wind, just flooding. But I believe this destruction in the Baton Rouge area is, dollar wise, equal to or greater than what Katrina did to New Orleans.”

While he has been dealing with the floods’ aftermath, Rouse also is readying for his company’s entry into the Baton Rouge market, where a store will open Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Rouse spoke with The Shelby Report this week about the flooding of the Denham Springs store and about the anticipation of debuting the Rouses banner in Baton Rouge.

Q: Tell us about the flood damage at the Denham Springs store and what has transpired over the last few days.

Donny Rouse: Saturday afternoon the water started coming into the store, and it came in pretty fast. It got up to about 2 feet in the store in a matter of an hour. Some of the people in the store actually had to leave by boat due to the water coming up so quickly. On Sunday afternoon, I was able to fly over the store to check on it and could see it had about 5 feet of water, and everything around the area was covered in water. I went back Monday morning and checked on it again and the water had come down some. On Monday afternoon I was be able to land a helicopter near the store and walk into the store and take some video and pictures and get a few things out that we needed. But it’s a total loss—everything that was inside the building. We have a restoration company that began working on it (Tuesday, Aug. 16)—getting everything removed so that we can start putting it back together again.

Rouses in Denham Springs, which opened in January 2015, is located in the popular Juban Crossing shopping center at 10130 Crossing Way. The center also is home to retailers like Belk, Academy Sports, Old Navy, Bed, Bath & Beyond and many more. “Everything in the shopping center was under water,” Rouse said.

Q: Did the store have flood insurance, and were any other Rouses’ stores damaged or destroyed by the floods?

Rouse: No other stores were damaged; we are OK in the Lafayette area where there was some flooding as well as other parts of the state. Luckily we do have flood insurance on that (Denham Springs) location, so everything should work out for us on that end. Dollar wise—it’s a big number. There’s about $1.5 million in inventory loss, plus another $4 million in building and asset damage.

Q: What’s your timeline in getting the store back up and running?

It’s really going to depend on our equipment manufacturers. In talking with them, hopefully they can put us at the top of their list to get our cases to us quickly, but we’re still estimating eight to 12 weeks.

Q: Are all your employees safe and accounted for?

Rouse: All of our employees are OK. A lot of them at (the Denham Springs) store lost their homes, but they are working at our Ponchatoula location and at the store that we will be opening in Baton Rouge.

Q: Speaking of Baton Rouge, you’re getting ready to debut the Rouses name there.

Rouse: There was water all around (the Baton Rouge location), but fortunately the store was built high enough. We’re very excited to get into this Baton Rouge market. It’s going to be kind of a softer grand opening for us next week just due to the situation in the area, with all the homes flooding… We will do a bigger grand opening later. We’re just trying to speed things up and get open so we can service the community right now.

Coincidentally, the Baton Rouge store on Airline Highway in the Long Farm Village development will feature the “exact same” design and layout as the Denham Springs store, according to Rouse.

At approximately 50,000 s.f., the unit’s produce section will be in the middle of the store next to a section that merchandises fresh, pre-chopped vegetables and fruits. The fresh seafood department is one of the first areas shoppers see. Like all Rouses stores, the Baton Rouge location will focus on Louisiana and Gulf Coast products, ranging from packaged items to king cakes and jambalaya prepared in-store and fresh meat and produce supplied by local farmers.