I live in the Lower 9th Ward, and I can tell you why there are no grocery stores here. They are not economically viable, at least post-Katrina.
Shortly after a Family Dollar store closed here, a mid-sized grocery store, St. Claude Fresh Market, with fresh produce and a deli, opened on St. Claude Avenue. During Hurricane Ida, arson gutted the business. The grocery was not rebuilt with insurance money.
Family Dollar could not make it here. A desirable grocery store could not make it here. A new nonprofit farmers market is struggling, and I expect it to fail…