Moving Forward

A groundbreaking and a grand opening helped to get St. Landry Parish economic growth off to a good start in January, and planners expect more to come.

A new Walmart Neighborhood Market at 2310 S. Union St. in Opelousas opened Jan. 20 and a new Love’s Travel Stop broke ground in Port Barre Jan. 12. It should be open by the summer. In addition, Thibodaux-based Go-Bear’s Food Marts is set to open a 10,000 square-foot facility, which will include a Chevron fuel station along the frontage road at Exit 11 in Grand Coteau.

The events come after a successful year in 2015 and are the first of several that economic development head Bill Rodier anticipates will help maintain St. Landry Parish growth.

St. Landry Economic Development averaged a record 17 business/industrial recruitment projects in active consideration at any given time in 2015. Rodier anticipates announcement of four new projects in St. Landry in the first quarter of this year, not counting Walmart and Love’s.

Opelousas Mayor Reggie Tatum called the Walmart opening “a new form of growth” for the city. “It’s showing that Opelousas is still growing. It makes us feel good that businesses are coming here,” he said.

The 42,000-square-foot store offers fresh produce, meat and a full-service pharmacy. It currently has about 95 employees, according to store manager Fred Delafosse. It will be open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“It’s a good feeling to see all of these employees,” Tatum said. “It’s jobs, money and the sales tax; everything is going to go up from there.”

Delafosse said although Walmart is located next door to Super 1 Foods, the new store could benefit both businesses. “Usually when a Walmart comes to a town, other businesses come across the street or on the side,” he said. “Walmart attracts people. It helps the community as a whole.”

Rodier said a number of retailers have been taking a hard look at St. Landry Parish.

“We are getting a growing number of inquiries about potential retail sites, particularly along the I-49 corridor,” he said. “Retailers are taking a close look at the fact that central St. Landry Parish draws consumers from a large geographic radius. There is a viable market for the right national retailers to consider coming to St. Landry.”

The grand opening included presentation of $8,000 in grants from Walmart and the Walmart Foundation to St. Landry groups, including St. Landry Professionals.

The 7,000-square-foot Love’s outlet in Port Barre will include a Subway restaurant, according to a company spokesman. It will bring 25 new jobs to the community and will enhance the Port Barre sales tax base.

Kealey Dorian of the Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores corporate communications department said it will offer “convenience store items like coffee, snacks, fountain drinks, hot foods, fresh cut fruit, gift items and more.”

Dorian said Love’s selected the Port Barre location “because U.S. 190 is a major route traveled by many professional truck drivers and commuters, not to mention it has a solid base of residents that we’ll be glad to serve. We hope it will be an ideal place for residents to fuel up, and grab snacks and meals.”

• Nationwide, Love’s employs approximately 12,000 people and has more than 360 

locations in 40 states. The Port Barre store will be the eighth facility in Louisiana.

The Port Barre opening is part of an aggressive expansion program for the company. Last year was the company’s busiest year of store openings ever.  Twenty-seven new locations added more than 2,000 truck-parking spaces.

“With plans for more travel stops, as well as growth beyond the stores, 2016 will be even more active,” according to a company statement.

“Love’s plans to open more than 40 new locations across 28 states in 2016, which will be the most Love’s has opened in a given year in our history,” said Frank Love, co-CEO. “We remain committed to providing more safe places for our customers to fuel, park and rest, and these newly constructed locations will add more than 3,200 truck-parking spaces to our network.”

A spokesman for Go-Bear’s said the company is “super excited” about its planned expansion “with a new ‘super cool’ casino truck stop” in Grand Coteau. This location is expected to initially open its doors on February 15th and plans a formal grand opening celebration in the first week of March.

It will feature a southern eatery, barista coffee bar, homemade fudge and an upscale truckers den,” according to David Williamson, the company’s vice president for retail.  The family owned corporation currently operates thirteen stores in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.