JEANERETTE, La. — The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana held the grand opening of the Raintree Market in Jeanerette, bringing the first full-service grocery store to the city since 2022.
Mac's Sugar City Market—Jeanerette's only full-service grocery store at the time—burned down in 2022. To learn more about what happened, click here.
Right after the fire, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana purchased the store with the intent to renovate and re-open it, but the damage was too bad. The tribe decided to instead build a new store from the ground up—one similar to the Raintree Market in Baldwin.
"Feel the support of the community out here today. You can see the excitement out. The people are excited, I'm excited. It's gonna be a great venture," said Countice Leblanc, the general manager of Raintree Market in Jeanerette. "The closest store is seven miles away, and that's difficult for anybody in the community, much less the elders or the people that don't drive. So, we're so excited to have this opening today and to see the support from the community."
Wednesday morning marked the official grand opening of the Raintree Market. A ribbon cutting and ceremony was held outside the store located at 1001 E. Main St. in Jeanerette.
