New Orleans East, formally known as a “Black Suburb,” has faced major socioeconomic issues since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Several grocery stores did not return, and two decades later, this neighborhood is still classified as a food desert compared to wealthier areas of the city.
As a Native New Orleanian and current resident of “The East”, I always hear stories of what the area used to be like before Katrina. Residents felt that the neighborhood had been abandoned, while other areas of the city with a majority white population received immediate disaster aid and have almost completely recovered since Katrina.
As a student attending Tulane University, that disparity became impossible for me to ignore — there are several grocery stores just within walking distance from campus, and yet none close to my very own house.
Despite inequities, the New Orleans community has remained strong in advocating for the rebuild, including organizations like “New Orleans East Matters,” which pushes for reinvestment and for the city to address long-standing inequity in food access and economic opportunity.
The Winn-Dixie on Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans East was set to shut down until it was transformed into a Rouses Market grocery store, which opened in early February and drew citywide attention.
Justin Green, a Tulane student and resident of Lake Bullard, a subdivision of New Orleans East, visited the new Rouses soon after it opened. He said the new grocery store is like a “revitalization” for the area.
“I arrived and the entire parking lot was filled, which hadn’t been something I’d seen at that location in a long time,” Green said. “It was just a lot more energy compared to the past couple of years.”
For residents like myself, seeing the installation of this grocery store gave me a feeling of hope for the community. After years of promises about rebuilding New Orleans East, the opening of a major grocery store suggests that these promises will finally be met with true results.
“It was a lot of life and just customers and people that we recognize from within the community shopping there,” Green said.
But one grocery store alone will not undo two decades of post-Katrina neglect. For us residents, we hope that the stories our parents share of this neighborhood pre-Katrina will be transformed by a new generation that can say they witnessed revitalization. This change will be thanks to the resilience and continued advocacy of the community members.
“New Orleans East is a region that is in desperate need of new life, and new businesses, and things being brought back to life and revitalized,” Green said. “So this Winn-Dixie being converted into a Rouses was a big thing in terms of being a sign of life and a sign of growth.”
The reopening of the Rouses is a step forward, but the real test will be whether the city continues investing in New Orleans East long after the ribbon-cutting.