Ideal Market, the New Orleans-based grocery chain, is continuing its local expansion with a new grocery store planned for the corner of South Carrollton Avenue and Earhart Boulevard.
The store will be located in a former Save-A-Lot grocery store that Ideal Market owner Mike Kaki purchased earlier this summer, according to city records. In a separate deal, Kaki bought a vacant lot behind the store site from the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Together, the transactions totaled nearly $3.2 million.
The new store will be the tenth for Ideal Market, which specializes in Hispanic food brands and other offerings. The chain has another New Orleans store on South Broad Street as well as locations in Metairie, Kenner, Gretna, Gonzales and Baton Rouge. The chain has also been mulling plans for a new store in Avondale.
Ideal Market recently purchased two pieces of property on S. Carrollton Ave at Earhart Blvd., a Sav-a-Lot store and adjoining lot that was owned by the archdiocese. The store’s marketing director said plans are underway to open their 10th grocery store on the site. Will be a boon for a neighborhood that doesn’t have many other options. Monday, August 12, 2024 in New Orleans. (Staff photo by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
“We’re doing incredible business on South Broad Street and feel like there is plenty of demand for another location,” said Benito Castro, Marketing Director for the chain.
Castro said it’s too soon to say when construction might begin because planning for the store is still in the early stages. But the store, which will be a full-service supermarket around 20,000 square feet, should be open for business sometime next year.
Growing footprint
Ideal Market opened its first location in New Orleans in 2000, primarily as a Hispanic food market. In the two decades since, it has expanded its offerings to include a broader range of merchandise, though it specializes in Hispanic food and markets to the area’s growing Hispanic population.
The latest store site is located on a highly trafficked corner between Broadmoor and Hollygrove. A DG Mart, a type of Dollar General store that sells fresh produce and a limited selection of meats, is located just two blocks away on Earhart Boulevard, but Castro said his store targets a different demographic than the typical discount shopper.
“We draw a wide variety of customers from all over,” he said. “We don’t compete with the discount stores per se.”
Castro could not say what Kaki has planned for the vacant lot that he purchased from the archdiocese and whether it would be used for excess parking for the new store or for a new building.
Next to the lot, the former Catholic Bookstore building was purchased earlier this summer by a Baton Rouge dentist, who has started renovating the building and plans to open an office there.