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Residents of Galliano and the South Lafourche community celebrated the grand opening of a beloved grocery store nearly a year after Hurricane Ida destroyed it. Galliano Fresh Market opened its doors for the first time in 11 months on Tuesday, with dozens of loyal shoppers lining up two hours before the store’s opening.
The supermarket suffered extensive damage when Hurricane Ida struck the gulf coast on August 29, 2021. The category 4 storm ripped the roof off of the grocery store, leaving behind wind and water damage. Jaedon Burregi, owner of Galliano Fresh Market shared the store’s road to recovery and the importance of reopening to the community. “Eleven months ago we closed. After the storm we lost our entire roof, when you walked in you saw daylight. For 11 months we’ve been working and waiting for everything to come in. We really started actively working in the building at the end of May. Once everything started rolling in we were able to get everything together,” said Burregi.
The store reopened on Tuesday morning to a large crowd of proud and emotional Galliano and South Lafourche residents. Staff members greeted customers with smiles and cheers as they entered the store. Patty St. Pierre, a life-long resident of Galliano, arrived at the store-front at 8 a.m. waiting patiently with a shopping cart. St. Pierre said witnessing the reopening of Galliano Fresh Market two weeks before Ida’s one year anniversary was a bittersweet moment. “It’s been a long time waiting. I’ve been here since 8:00 sitting at the dollar store, they let me borrow their chair. What I look forward to the most is not having to drive all the way to Walmart to get my groceries. We missed the atmosphere, this store has always been family oriented.”
Serving the community since 1976, Galliano Fresh Market is a staple in the community. The store was opened by Burregi’s grandfather and uncle, and is now owned and operated by Burregi and his father. The young entrepreneur said he and his team reflected on the damages the store sustained years ago following Hurricane Gustav. With no hesitation, Burregi vowed to reopen the store no matter how long the recovery process would take. “It was very important to us to reopen. We just did this 13 years ago because of Hurricane Gustav, we lost the roof as well. We were having conversations about if we were going to do this again, and immediately we were like yes. Our employees needed us, our families needed us, the community needed us, and we were not only the only grocery store in Galliano, but we were the only locally owned grocery store here in South Lafourche. We knew that we had to do this not only for our family but for the community as well.”
In celebration of the grand-opening, the store gifted the first 100 customers with a 10 percent discount off of their entire purchase. The return of the supermarket not only provides residents with a nearby store, but additional job opportunities in the community. Burregi said that Galliano Fresh Market is here to stay and looks forward to serving the Galliano and South Lafourche community for another 46 years.
