Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

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Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by wnetmacman »

This is a surprise purchase, but it puts them in and around Baton Rouge in a very large way:

Rouses Markets increases presence in Baton Rouge area, acquires LeBlanc's stores

It's only 9 stores, but they are in and surround the Baton Rouge metro area, which is a great thing for them, because they were looking for a better way in than to just build stores. LeBlanc's just pushed a competitor out of a lease to open a new store in Baton Rouge a couple of years ago that was hailed as a huge step up for them, and it probably won't require much work for Rouses to convert to their prototype.
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:This is a surprise purchase, but it puts them in and around Baton Rouge in a very large way:

Rouses Markets increases presence in Baton Rouge area, acquires LeBlanc's stores

It's only 9 stores, but they are in and surround the Baton Rouge metro area, which is a great thing for them, because they were looking for a better way in than to just build stores. LeBlanc's just pushed a competitor out of a lease to open a new store in Baton Rouge a couple of years ago that was hailed as a huge step up for them, and it probably won't require much work for Rouses to convert to their prototype.
I looked at where and what these stores and I felt disappointed, frankly. Only one of them is Baton Rouge proper (that's the one that used to be Hi Nabor), and the rest are all in other parts like Plaquemine. LeBlanc's tends to have very small stores, and even the former Hi Nabor is about 30,000 square feet, and that's after an expansion. I've never been to a Rouses, but I've gotten the impression that they want to be sort of Louisiana's H-E-B, nice stores with lots of state pride, but unlike H-E-B, have always tended to skew small despite building modern, large-ish stores recently (well, Publix sized, so something closer to 50k square feet than 70k square feet).

EDIT: It looks like they recently removed signage (from at least Donaldsonville) that said "Payless Food Stores" for simply "LeBlanc's" unless it's "LeBlanc's Frais Marche".
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:I looked at where and what these stores and I felt disappointed, frankly. Only one of them is Baton Rouge proper (that's the one that used to be Hi Nabor), and the rest are all in other parts like Plaquemine.
2 in Gonzales, 1 in Prairieville, 1 in Donaldsonville, 1 in Plaquemine, 1 in Zachary and the 1 in Baton Rouge are all in the BR Metro area. Only Plattenville and Hammond are outside that, and Plattenville could be argued either way.
pseudo3d wrote:LeBlanc's tends to have very small stores, and even the former Hi Nabor is about 30,000 square feet, and that's after an expansion.
Of the stores they bought:

Gonzales (Airline) is a 48,000sf former WD Marketplace.
Gonzales (Duplessis) was a brand new build that is a pretty good sized store (55,000sf); it was the first Frais Marche, a similar concept to Rouses.
Baton Rouge was a Hi Nabor store, and the one I mentioned was forced out of the lease. It is 30,000sf, but the expansion was done by Hi Nabor.
Zachary is also an older former WD that was about 40,000sf.
Plaquemine, Plattenville and Donaldsonville are similar, but none were a Marketplace, and are a little smaller, around 35,000sf.
Hammond is a former Delchamps, and it's around 45,000sf.
Prairieville is a 35,000sf store that has been expanded several times.

30,000sf is minimal, but compared to some of the local competitors, hardly small. Several are larger than that; most Rouses stores run 35-40,000 sf, other than a few purchased exceptions around New Orleans.

pseudo3d wrote:I've never been to a Rouses, but I've gotten the impression that they want to be sort of Louisiana's H-E-B, nice stores with lots of state pride, but unlike H-E-B, have always tended to skew small despite building modern, large-ish stores recently (well, Publix sized, so something closer to 50k square feet than 70k square feet).
I've been to many of their stores, including in their hometown of Thibodaux. The older stores vary, but have grown massively in consistency. They don't just try to be local, they *are* local. HEB trys to be all Texas, but in their further reaching stores (away from Houston or SA) tend to be lacking. Rouses is 100% consistent in quality and selection. Where else can you have owners welcoming folks to their grand openings? None of the Butt family travels to all their stores. The Rouse family (and especially Donny, the third generation partner) visits regularly, and pushes for perfection. Each store has its own personality, and they have outstanding prepared foods.

The main change I see for the LeBlanc stores would be in selection; they were big members of AGBR, but Rouses is adamantly not, having fought them in court to leave some time ago. I'm not surprised so much by the purchase; I know Rouse has been looking for a quick way in. I thought they'd go after a smaller bunch like Matherne's.
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:I looked at where and what these stores and I felt disappointed, frankly. Only one of them is Baton Rouge proper (that's the one that used to be Hi Nabor), and the rest are all in other parts like Plaquemine.
2 in Gonzales, 1 in Prairieville, 1 in Donaldsonville, 1 in Plaquemine, 1 in Zachary and the 1 in Baton Rouge are all in the BR Metro area. Only Plattenville and Hammond are outside that, and Plattenville could be argued either way.
pseudo3d wrote:LeBlanc's tends to have very small stores, and even the former Hi Nabor is about 30,000 square feet, and that's after an expansion.
Of the stores they bought:

Gonzales (Airline) is a 48,000sf former WD Marketplace.
Gonzales (Duplessis) was a brand new build that is a pretty good sized store (55,000sf); it was the first Frais Marche, a similar concept to Rouses.
Baton Rouge was a Hi Nabor store, and the one I mentioned was forced out of the lease. It is 30,000sf, but the expansion was done by Hi Nabor.
Zachary is also an older former WD that was about 40,000sf.
Plaquemine, Plattenville and Donaldsonville are similar, but none were a Marketplace, and are a little smaller, around 35,000sf.
Hammond is a former Delchamps, and it's around 45,000sf.
Prairieville is a 35,000sf store that has been expanded several times.

30,000sf is minimal, but compared to some of the local competitors, hardly small. Several are larger than that; most Rouses stores run 35-40,000 sf, other than a few purchased exceptions around New Orleans.

pseudo3d wrote:I've never been to a Rouses, but I've gotten the impression that they want to be sort of Louisiana's H-E-B, nice stores with lots of state pride, but unlike H-E-B, have always tended to skew small despite building modern, large-ish stores recently (well, Publix sized, so something closer to 50k square feet than 70k square feet).
I've been to many of their stores, including in their hometown of Thibodaux. The older stores vary, but have grown massively in consistency. They don't just try to be local, they *are* local. HEB trys to be all Texas, but in their further reaching stores (away from Houston or SA) tend to be lacking. Rouses is 100% consistent in quality and selection. Where else can you have owners welcoming folks to their grand openings? None of the Butt family travels to all their stores. The Rouse family (and especially Donny, the third generation partner) visits regularly, and pushes for perfection. Each store has its own personality, and they have outstanding prepared foods.

The main change I see for the LeBlanc stores would be in selection; they were big members of AGBR, but Rouses is adamantly not, having fought them in court to leave some time ago. I'm not surprised so much by the purchase; I know Rouse has been looking for a quick way in. I thought they'd go after a smaller bunch like Matherne's.
The largest Rouses stores tend to be around 55k square feet, which is modest but isn't super-large (no 70k square feet stores or larger), which is what larger Kroger stores or H-E-B stores tend to be in Texas. I guess that helps them more consistent, but I also had heard Rouses had picked up expiring W-D leases. I think it would be hard to have those stores on par with new modern stores. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's hard to maintain consistency in any large chain.
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:The largest Rouses stores tend to be around 55k square feet, which is modest but isn't super-large (no 70k square feet stores or larger), which is what larger Kroger stores or H-E-B stores tend to be in Texas.
Actually, no. Fact checking can be your friend.

New Orleans - Lakefront (Leon C. SImon at Franklin Blvd.) is around 60,000sf.
Metairie - Power Blvd. is a 100,000sf building
Kenner - Esplanade is 70,000
New Orleans - Tchopitoulas is around 70,000
Houma - Main St. is around 80,000
Youngsville is 60,000
Thibodaux - Canal is 60,000
Mandeville - Causeway is 60,000

Some of the others, like the Denham Springs, Baton Rouge and Lafayette stores were smaller for a reason: that's what their customers wanted. Lafayette - Bertrand was another store originally in a really good location, and they did expand it as far as they could. It's around 40,000sf.

As far as the WD leases in Matthews and Ponchatoula, those were both good traffic stores that WD just didn't want to operate. Both had lost considerable business to Walmarts that had opened nearby.
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:The largest Rouses stores tend to be around 55k square feet, which is modest but isn't super-large (no 70k square feet stores or larger), which is what larger Kroger stores or H-E-B stores tend to be in Texas.
Actually, no. Fact checking can be your friend.

New Orleans - Lakefront (Leon C. SImon at Franklin Blvd.) is around 60,000sf.
Metairie - Power Blvd. is a 100,000sf building
Kenner - Esplanade is 70,000
New Orleans - Tchopitoulas is around 70,000
Houma - Main St. is around 80,000
Youngsville is 60,000
Thibodaux - Canal is 60,000
Mandeville - Causeway is 60,000

Some of the others, like the Denham Springs, Baton Rouge and Lafayette stores were smaller for a reason: that's what their customers wanted. Lafayette - Bertrand was another store originally in a really good location, and they did expand it as far as they could. It's around 40,000sf.

As far as the WD leases in Matthews and Ponchatoula, those were both good traffic stores that WD just didn't want to operate. Both had lost considerable business to Walmarts that had opened nearby.
Maybe "largest" isn't the word...what's the largest store Rouses has actually opened by themselves? The New Orleans stores are big because they were former Schwegmann stores, which were known for having massive stores, especially for the times. Does the Metairie store even use all of the space?
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:
wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:The largest Rouses stores tend to be around 55k square feet, which is modest but isn't super-large (no 70k square feet stores or larger), which is what larger Kroger stores or H-E-B stores tend to be in Texas.
Actually, no. Fact checking can be your friend.

New Orleans - Lakefront (Leon C. SImon at Franklin Blvd.) is around 60,000sf.
Metairie - Power Blvd. is a 100,000sf building
Kenner - Esplanade is 70,000
New Orleans - Tchopitoulas is around 70,000
Houma - Main St. is around 80,000
Youngsville is 60,000
Thibodaux - Canal is 60,000
Mandeville - Causeway is 60,000

Some of the others, like the Denham Springs, Baton Rouge and Lafayette stores were smaller for a reason: that's what their customers wanted. Lafayette - Bertrand was another store originally in a really good location, and they did expand it as far as they could. It's around 40,000sf.

As far as the WD leases in Matthews and Ponchatoula, those were both good traffic stores that WD just didn't want to operate. Both had lost considerable business to Walmarts that had opened nearby.
Maybe "largest" isn't the word...what's the largest store Rouses has actually opened by themselves? The New Orleans stores are big because they were former Schwegmann stores, which were known for having massive stores, especially for the times. Does the Metairie store even use all of the space?
On this list, only Metairie, Kenner and new Orleans were purchased stores. All the others I listed were new from the ground up. I also forgot Slidell, which is a 60,000sf prototype.
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Re: Rouses Markets buys smaller LeBlanc's

Post by wnetmacman »

As an update to this story; signs haven't been changed on the LeBlanc's stores as of yet. I was in Baton Rouge on Thursday, and the Frais Marche on Drusilla Lane still shows the LeBlanc's name on the front. Didn't stop in to see any inside changes, though.
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