PRESS RELEASE

On August 29, 2005, the Robért grocery stores sustained significant damages due to Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath.  All of our stores were damaged.

Since 2005, we have anxiously tried to return to our site at St Claude and Elysian Fields. Due to Hurricane Katrina, the building was destroyed, and the landlords refused to uphold their responsibilities as outlined in our lease.

Robert MarketFare St. Claude has just successfully completed a three-week jury trial in Orleans Civil District Court against our landlord, the Schwegman family. Friday, March 16, 2012 marked the end of the trial, and it is the day that we can finally begin our plan to return to the St. Claude and Faubourg Marigny neighborhoods. The landlords for this site, the Schwegmann family, were found in breach of the lease by a twelve-person jury for not restoring the building to its pre-Katrina condition. Robert MarketFare St. Claude was NOT found in breach of lease at any time before or after Hurricane Katrina in response to allegations from the Schwegmann family. The Schwegmann family has been required by the unanimous decision of the twelve-person jury to restore the building at 2222 St Claude Ave. to its pre-Katrina condition.                                                        
                                                                                                                                       The landlords must restore the structure before Robert MarketFare St. Claude can return to full grocery operations. Any further delays are entirely the fault of the landlords as found by the twelve-person jury in the Orleans Civil District Court.
For six years, we have expended tremendous efforts to return to this neighborhood with every intent to bring a full service grocery store to an area that has been considered a “food desert” for six plus years. As a locally owned and operated grocery company, we are committed to the continued revival of the St. Claude community and the New Orleans community as a whole.