IBERIA PARISH — After three years without a grocery store, residents in Jeanerette will soon have access to fresh food again.
The new Raintree Market is set to open Nov. 19, ending what city leaders describe as a food desert created after Mac's Sugar City Market, the city’s only full-service grocery store, was destroyed by fire in 2022.
“It really left a vacuum, a void— pretty much what we traditionally called a food desert,” Mayor Carol Bourgeois Jr. said.
Since the fire, many residents have had to travel out of town or rely on mobile food trucks and community groups for groceries.
Now, with the opening of Raintree Market, a partnership between the City of Jeanerette and the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, access to groceries and fresh produce will once again be available within city limits.
“Oh my God, it’s been like tremendously bad,” resident Linton James said. “We didn’t have no other grocery store to go to. It’s gonna be a good thing for the community. I’m very excited.”
Bourgeois said the new market will do more than bring back convenience. It’s expected to help spark local economic growth and create new jobs.
“You won’t have to make the big trip to the big market stores outside of Jeanerette,” he said. “We’re just really super excited about them choosing Jeanerette.”
James said the project will make a lasting difference for people who live nearby.
“It’s gonna boost up the economy, it’s gonna boost up jobs,” he said. “It’s really all around a good thing. I’m so happy about it.”
The Raintree Market will officially open on November 19th.
