Louisiana-based Rouses Markets is expanding into Alabama with the acquisition of six stores there, the company said in a release.
The stores, located in Mobile, Gulf Shores, Spanish Fort, Saraland and Theodore, were formerly Belle Foods markets owned by Associated Wholesale Grocers. The company bought them at a Belle Foods bankruptcy auction in Birmingham. Rouses, established in 1960, already owned 38 stores in Louisiana and Mississippi.
The acquisitions represent the company’s first expansion into Alabama. Tommy Delaune, President of Tommy’s Seafood in Chalmette, said the Rouses Markets expansion is good news for everyone.
"Fishermen across the Gulf Coast are excited about this,” he said. “They know what it means for them and the economy. Rouses support keeps our Gulf Coast fishermen working."
Rouses is planning a multimillion-dollar remodeling of the stores before reopening them, according to Danny Rouse, the company’s managing partner.
“We’ll be adding in-store sausage kitchens, seafood boiling rooms and other features we’re famous for,” he said.
The company will interview Belle Foods employees for potential staffing of the new stores.
