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Oct 26, 2023

Grocery stores gradually restock after Hurricane Ida

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The parking lots at grocery stores in the New Orleans area were close to capacity Friday afternoon, and fortunately so were most of the shelves inside as shoppers looked to replenish their pantries and refrigerators after Hurricane Ida.

But some stores have yet to reopen in harder hit areas, and the timeline for their return is unclear.

At Zuppardo's Family Market in Metairie, clerks restocked aisles as fast soon after shoppers left shelves lean. Most households near the store didn't have power for more than a week, and customers could only bring home basic necessities that would last a day or so. Now they're back looking to replenish.

"These customers of ours, they lost everything," proprietor Joey Zuppardo said. "They had nothing to eat, nothing in their refrigerators, so they are coming in and buying everything that's on the shelf."

Just down Veterans Boulevard, the flow of customers was steady at Dorignac's Food Store. Some indulged in items from the bakery, and others wove their way through the wine aisles.

Joe Mabey, who lives in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans, said he and his wife had been doing most of their shopping just across the state line in Mississippi, where they also own a home. He was shopping for dinner Friday at Dorignac's with just a few items in his cart. Slowly but surely, they are replenishing their fridge.

"We’ve got some mayonnaise, we've got some mustard. We're getting there, you know," Mabey said.

Co-owner Jason Dorignac said customers just recently were taking packages of meat off the butcher's cart while it was being rolled out, before they could be placed in the display cooler. The demand has cooled some, but Dorignac said lots of people are still replacing food they had to throw out for the hurricane.

"The volume we're used to seeing in a day or two, we're now seeing that in a half-day," Dorignac said.

Other family-owned grocers say they were able to reconnect with suppliers soon after the storm. That was the case at Aquistapace's Covington Supermarket, where generators saved the inventory and allowed the store to reopen quickly.

"It's hard to restock from scratch," said Erik Acquisitapace, whose family also operates a store in Mandeville.

Rouses Markets has reopened most of its stores in southeast Louisiana, but three locations in Lafourche Parish — in Golden Meadow, Mathews and Larose-Cut Off — remain closed. An opening date could be set soon for Golden Meadow, marketing director Tim Acosta said, and its Kenner location will be back in business Monday.

At the Rouses Market in Mid-City, shelves were largely stocked save for the frozen food section where employees had stacked dozens of boxes that would soon fill the cases. Acosta said the high demand for frozen items has outpaced the supply, which Rouses has had to obtain from wholesalers farther away than usual.

Grocers say a critical element in their recovery has been the return of employees. Dorignac said more than two-thirds of his team is back, making it possible to keep products in stock and lines short at the register.

Rouses is in constant hiring mode, Acosta said, and there have been enough employees to reopen each store.

Back at Zuppardo's, the checkout process was fast and easy for Dionne Browder, who evacuated for Hurricane Ida and has grown tired of the fast food that had become a staple for her family. She also depends on grocers for her side gig as a delivery driver.

"It feels better to know the stores are open because when we first came back, there wasn't much of anything open," Browder said.

Although shoppers will find more items on their lists at stores, they don't have as much time to fulfill them. Most locations are still open for limited hours, which they attribute to a lack of manpower.