Residents of Guste’s skyscraper have spent years in a food desert. There is now a grocery store in the lobby. | News

By any standard, Guste Grocery is a modest place.

With no more than 5 x 5 meters, it has no corridors, just three walls full of pantry items, a few baskets of products and a fridge full of drinks, eggs and dairy products. A small freezer full of ice cream and frozen dinners is under the counter.

But how humble the offerings are depends largely on the eyes of those who contemplate them. For the disabled and elderly residents of the Guste High Rise Apartments in Central City, who met on Tuesday to celebrate the store’s opening, it was exactly what they wanted.

“This is truly a blessing for the community,” said Lula Iford, a 75-year-old retired and former nurse at Charity Hospital. “This is a convenience for everyone, it really is a good thing.”

“Many of us can’t get out,” said Henrietta Glover, 76, a retired preschool teacher. “But if we can go down to a grocery store like this, we can buy items that we (otherwise) can’t and prepare a meal for ourselves.”

Guste Grocery is the result of a partnership between Percy “Master P” Miller and Rouses Markets, and ends a nearly four-year search to replace the candy store in the lobby of the 11-story building on Avenida Simon Bolivar. The 385-unit development is part of the Housing Authority of New Orleans, but has been self-managed since 1998.

Miller, the rapper, producer and entrepreneur who for years has contributed to the beautification and other efforts of Guste, said the store that will operate in the salon that bears his name is fundamental to the quality of life of the 430 elderly and physically disabled residents there. He thanked CEO Donnie Rouse and his father, founder Donald Rouse Sr., who were also present.

“A lot of people do and say things … but in the end, these guys are getting ahead and doing what is necessary,” said Miller, before making an apparent reference to the recent controversy surrounding Donald Rouse Sr.’s participation in the rally. pro-Trump in Washington, which later evolved into a violent uprising with the aim of preventing Congressional certification of the presidential election.

“None of us are perfect …” he said. “We are stronger together, we cannot change the past, but we can definitely change the future. This is love here today. You talk about feeding our people, this is how we do it.”

Asked about the controversy after the press conference, Donnie Rouse reiterated his claim that his father’s presence at the DC rally is not a matter that concerns the supermarket chain or its operations. Miller stepped up again to emphasize that no one is perfect and that the past is the past.

“This man is putting his money where his mouth is,” said Miller.

Rouse said earlier that day that when Guste President and CEO Cynthia Wiggins approached him about a month ago to see what could be done to bring supplies for low-income development, he was happy to help. Rouses built the space, donated the initial stock of 350 products and will train someone from the enterprise to take care of the store and the stock, which Guste Grocery will buy from Rouses. Prices are rounded to the nearest 5 cents to make arithmetic easier, and residents will also be able to place orders in the full supermarket and receive them.

Wiggins and Rouse said they plan to work with HANO to replicate the store in five other low-income developments by the housing authority. Like Guste Grocery, stores will have their own names, but it appears in the familiar Rouses font on a red background.

Wiggins said that what Guste previously sold in the Percy Miller Room were items often found in vending machines, and keeping them stocked and managed proved difficult. It was finally closed about four years ago. Meanwhile, residents have been forced to run out or venture into one of the nearby corner stores, which have poor choices, high prices and offer high-interest credit.

Many residents cannot physically walk to these stores, she said, and those who at times may have been mugged.

Wiggins told residents meeting on Tuesday that she would love nothing more than to close the corner stores.

“They have no value in the community,” she said, to a wave of applause.

Iford, the retired nurse, agrees that corner stores have been a terrible option and many residents pay someone they trust with a $ 10 car to take them to the supermarket.

“Many convenience stores didn’t have (what you need) and, if they did, it was very expensive – an onion would cost two dollars,” she said. “You may need something during the week, but you simply have to go without. Maybe you go to the supermarket once a month, because that $ 10 goes up after a while.”

Rouse said he did not ask how much the company spent to build and initially stock Guste Grocery.

“We are excited to be entering the communities,” he said. “After hearing the stories of what some of the residents went through to get supplies, it was horrible. We do not want any resident, especially the elderly, to have to do what they were doing. So, when they came to us, we said absolutely. ”

A product of the Calliope housing development, Miller gained fame as a rapper in the mid-1990s and helped establish New Orleans as a breeding ground for the emerging artists he supported through his record label No Limit. Later, he branched out into films, television, restaurants and even basketball and wrestling, among other activities. But he has donated his time and money to the Guste venture over the years and said on Tuesday that he hopes to work with Rouses and other HANO ventures interested in creating their own grocery spaces.

“These are the people who raised me,” he said of the elderly people who surrounded him in the courtyard on Tuesday. “If it weren’t for these people, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”