July_Aug_2015_FINAL_62215_bleedless REV

the Anniversary issue

THE CADILLAC OF GROCERY STORES Donald Rouse

luxury apartments built right next door and new restaurants from John Besh, Donald Link and Stephen Stryjewski. I’m a lifelong Saints fan, and the store is basically on the 50-yard line, right smack in the middle of all of the game day excitement. We’ve hosted Sunday tailgates, Monday night tailgates, BCS tailgates, and a few New Orleans Bowl tailgates that turned our parking lot Ragin’ Cajun Red. At least once a season we do a chefs’ tailgate with Tory McPhail from Commander’s Palace. Tim Acosta Chefs have always shopped at Rouses, and we’ve always featured chefs in our advertising. Paul Prudhomme cooked crawfish étouffée at Rouses #4 in Houma back in 1985 (he was escorted into the parking lot by a firetruck — maybe because his food was so spicy?). Frank Davis appeared one Saturday morning after Mardi Gras still

Downtown New Orleans got its first major supermarket in 50 years when we opened a store in the historic Sewell Cadillac building in the Warehouse District in the fall of 2011.The four-story building had been empty since 2007 when Sewell closed their dealership. This was our first historic building — it was one of the original International-style buildings in New Orleans. We were very aware of the significance of the building, and we worked to preserve the architecture and interior elements like the chandeliers. The Warehouse District had been residential and mixed residential and commercial since after the 1984 Worlds Fair. But even I didn’t predict how much the area would change after we opened.The store has become a major anchor for new developments, including 700

18

MY ROUSES EVERYDAY JULY | AUGUST 2015