Rouses

When J.P. Rouse founded the City Produce Company in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in 1923, customers who were used to going to the corner store for groceries were just starting to shop at supermarkets. Rouse knew the best produce in America came from Louisiana, and he wanted the rest of the country to know it, too. His City Produce Company set about buying locally grown fruits and vegetables from farmers in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes, and at the French Market in New Orleans. City Produce Company would sort, pack and ship the fresh produce all over the country for sale in supermarkets as far away as Alaska.

The new rooftop garden on the Rouses Market in downtown New Orleans doesn’t look like your typical herb garden; but this isn’t your typical grocery store. Parsley, basil and cilantro are among the herbs the company is growing to package and sell on the building’s ground floor.

Rouses Markets is the first grocer in the country to develop its own aeroponic urban farm on its own rooftop, says managing partner Donny Rouse. And they could not have picked a more picturesque location. “The flat rooftop on this store is perfect for urban farming,” says Rouse. “And the view of downtown is postcard-perfect. I imagine we will do a lot of dinners up here on the farm.” Rouses Markets downtown store sits just blocks from the Superdome, French Quarter, and Mississippi River.

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