Questions for Rouses

1) I'm always glad to see new grocery stores opening up but why can't we get one in badly underserved Central City, Gentilly, or Bywater/9th Ward neighborhoods before we move on ways to better convenience the hotel and condo dense CBD area? I know Reggie Bush and Jeremey Shockey live there for part of the year but if Twitter has any credibility as a source Shockey lives mostly off of Pita Pit while Bush prefers Taco Bell so he can update us on its progress through his digestive tract.

2) Why is the Mayor announcing your company's real estate acquisition at a big to-do press conference? Are there public funds involved in this proposed development? The NOLA.com article doesn't tell us. But, if there are, I think that further underscores the point of my first question. Why are public funds (if there are any) going to development in a tourist/condo neighborhood when there are areas of greater need being neglected?

3) What the hell is a "frozen lifestyle" anyway?


Rouses on Tchoupitoulas 6/9/2010

Update: Rouses spokesperson (Tweetsperson?) answers via Twitter

He (the mayor) stopped by on his way to another meeting to welcome us to the neighborhood. Very nice of him. No city funds involved. Lots of press folks at the event, will surely be more in depth coverage tonight / tomorrow morning.

Upperdate: The Gambit blog report on the press conference also leaves us with a raised-eyebrow.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu was joined by three members of the New Orleans City Council this morning to announce that Rouse’s Market intends to open a new supermarket in downtown New Orleans the vicinity of the CBD/Warehouse District in December 2011.

Guess they all just "stopped by on the way to another meeting" Why not? Nice day, open mic.

Rouse told Gambit he is “not quite sure yet” how much the new store is going to cost. “We’re still doing the plans and the manipulations and such, but it’ll be huge,” he said. He also said the grocery store hasn’t done a market study to determine the viability of the new store—a common tactic undertaken by large out-of-state chains, before entering a new market. “We’ve been in business for 50 years,” said Rouse. “Sure I could bring someone in to do a market study, but at this point we don’t need a market study.”

Something still seems odd about this. I'm not sure what but I'd like to know a little more about "the manipulations".