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10
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
JULY | AUGUST 2015
the
Anniversary
issue
THE ROUSE HOUSE
Tim Acosta,
Marketing Director
Mr. Anthony and Miss Joyce raised their
kids, Tony, Wayne, Donald, Tommy, Cindy,
and Jeaneen, in their home behind Rouses
#1.When the family moved out in 1986, our
office moved in.
I started at Rouses as a stocker at the
Raceland store, Rouses #3, in 1981, and
worked my way up, or rather around, the
business — I worked at all four of our early
stores, and eventually the Rouse House.
Everyone did a bit of everything. Donald ran
the stores. Tommy was in technology — he
had a big IBM 34 computer system that tied
in all of the stores and our warehouse took
up half of the wall in his office. Tony did
pricing; my wife, Cindy, did accounting; her
sister, Jeaneen, ran payroll.
Ali Rouse Royster
People worked in the kitchen, old bedrooms
... the rumpus room was our conference
room.Westored filing cabinets in closets and
bathtubs. Donald’s office was in the formal
living room, dad was in my grandparent’s
bedroom. Uncle Tim’s office was in Aunt
Cindy’s old bedroom upstairs next to the
attic. And our general manager, Dave, had
his desk in Pa’s study. I had a little desk in
dad’s office, and helped with filing. Donny
worked in the stores with his dad, bagging
groceries and wrangling buggies.
Eventually we outgrew the house. In 2004
we moved into a new corporate office,
which was our old store, Rouses #1. My
grandfather renovated it himself.
THE SUPERSTORE
Tommy Rouse
My dad’s favorite vehicle was a bulldozer.
Dad built Rouses #4 on East Park in
Houma himself — he actually had to get
his general contractor’s license to build
that one. We acquired #5 on Audubon in
Thibodaux. Rouses #6, the 70,000-square-
foot superstore on West Main Street in
Houma opened in 1989. Dad built #6 from
the ground up. It was his dream store.
In 1989, the Superstore was easily the most
modern store in the state.The only place that
even came close to it — and really just for
size — was the old Schwegmann’s Giant
Supermarket on Airline Highway in New
Orleans.Weput in a pharmacy, a video store
and a photo-processing center. Customers
could have their film developed while they
shopped.
(Remember videos? Remember film?)
We put in our first seafood boiling room at
the Superstore and built our first sausage
kitchen and smokehouse. We developed the
recipes for our stuffed chickens and Jalapeno
sausages at #6 (the fresh green onion sausage
dates back to Rouses #1). The deli manager
recreated my dad’s fried chicken and my
mom’s chicken salad.Those are the only two
family recipes we don’t share.
Tim Acosta
Our grand opening theme was Hold On
Houma. The commercial mimicked a roller
coaster ride, with swoops and turns and
camera drops into the store.
TEEN HAS TITLE
IN THE BAG
In 1995, then 17-year-
old Brad Boudreaux of
Rouses #1 in Thibodaux
earned the title of
fastest bagger in the
country at the National
Grocer Association. He
was invited to show
off his skills on the
David Lettermen Show.
Donald Rouse promised
him $100 for every time
he mentioned Rouses.
He earned over $1,000.