No better indication of what our tourism bloodsuckers have done to the French Quarter than this.
Louis and his brother John Matassa have long run the grocery together. The store wends across a number of connected buildings, filled with narrow aisles and a small deli known for its plate lunches, breakfast biscuits and po-boys. Matassa's sturdy delivery bicycles have been a common sight bouncing along French Quarter streets, bringing sacks of grocery and cases of beer to customers’ doors.
But Catalanotto said slow business during the pandemic has been “the last straw” for a grocery that had struggled over the years as the French Quarter’s residential population declined and one-time homes were converted to condos and short-term rentals.
“People say this is a great time for the grocery business and that’s true, but not in the French Quarter,” he said. “It’s a different market here.”
Can't "shop local" when there are no locals. There could be a lesson here for what we want our city to look like after COVID. But we all know we're going to double down on turning our historic neighborhoods into theme parks.
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