By George Anderson
Six weeks after announcing the reopening of a store in New Orleans, Whole Foods Market is ready for the grand reopening of another Louisiana location damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The natural foods grocer said it is reopening it 50,000-square-foot store in the Big Easy suburb of Metairie. The company reopened its 30,000-square-foot unit in New Orleans' uptown section on Feb. 1.
In other hurricane related news from earlier in the week, Publix announced it was investing $100 million to have backup generators installed at each of its Florida locations by 2007.
"This is something our communities are asking for," said Bill Fauerbach, vice president of retail operations for Publix's Miami division. "Publix being open for business after a hurricane is often the first sign that things are getting back to normal in our community."
Publix said it lost more than $60 million in food that had to be thrown away after a series of hurricanes hit Florida in 2004. The company has not yet tallied its 2005 losses due to hurricane damage, although it did say it had to dispose of more than 1,200 truckloads of food after Hurricane Wilma. That figure, reports the Miami Herald, was the largest single loss from any storm in the company's history.
Moderator's Comment: How is the retail community in affected areas progressing in coming back from the hurricanes of 2005? What lessons have been learned to minimize the impact of future natural disasters? - George Anderson - Moderator