Schwegmann's wasn't just where you made groceries. It was where New Orleans made groceries.
In a city that takes food more seriously than most places take anything, Schwegmann's Giant Super Markets held a special place. For over seven decades, the family-owned chain was the grocery store of New Orleans — sprawling, chaotic, uniquely local, and absolutely essential. When it closed in 1999, the city didn't just lose a place to buy food. It lost an institution.
The Schwegmann Way
John G. Schwegmann Sr. opened his first grocery store in 1946 on Elysian Fields Avenue, and from the start, he did things differently. While other grocers operated modest neighborhood stores, Schwegmann went big — really big. His stores were enormous, cavernous spaces that dwarfed anything else in the local grocery market. Before America had warehouse clubs and supercenters, New Orleans had Schwegmann's.
The stores didn't just sell groceries. They sold everything. You could buy a set of tires, pick up a prescription, grab a bag of crawfish, shop for small appliances, and get your film developed — all under one roof. The concept was revolutionary for its time: a one-stop shopping destination that anticipated the big-box retail model by decades. Schwegmann's was doing Costco before Costco existed.
The Fair Trade Fighter
John Schwegmann wasn't just a grocer — he was a crusader. In the 1950s, he took on the liquor industry's fair trade laws, which set minimum prices for alcohol and prevented retailers from offering discounts. Schwegmann believed his customers deserved lower prices, and he fought the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the landmark 1951 decision Schwegmann Brothers v. Calvert Distillers Corp., the Court ruled in his favor, striking down the fair trade pricing system.
The decision had national implications, helping to lower liquor prices across the country. But in New Orleans, it cemented Schwegmann's reputation as the people's grocer — the guy who would fight the big guys to save his customers a few bucks. That reputation was worth more than any advertising campaign could buy.
More Than a Grocery Store
Walking into a Schwegmann's was an experience unto itself. The stores were vast and slightly overwhelming, with wide aisles piled high with merchandise and a controlled chaos that felt distinctly New Orleans. The produce section had local fruits and vegetables alongside the usual suspects. The seafood counter offered whatever was coming off the boats that week. The deli sold hot plate lunches that rivaled many restaurants in the city.
And then there was the bar. Some Schwegmann's locations had an actual bar inside the grocery store where you could sit down and have a drink while your spouse finished shopping. Only in New Orleans would putting a cocktail lounge inside a supermarket seem like a perfectly reasonable business decision. And it was — because the customers loved it.
The stores also became informal community spaces. You ran into your neighbors, caught up on gossip, and debated the merits of different brands of hot sauce in the condiment aisle. Going to Schwegmann's was rarely quick, not because the lines were long — though they could be — but because you inevitably saw someone you knew and had to stop and talk.
Making Groceries
Schwegmann's was inseparable from one of the most distinctive phrases in the New Orleans vocabulary: "making groceries." While the rest of America went grocery shopping, New Orleanians made groceries — a linguistic holdover from the French "faire les courses" that persists to this day. And when people said they were making groceries, more often than not, they meant they were going to Schwegmann's.
The chain had locations across the metro area — on Old Gentilly Road, Veterans Boulevard, the Westbank, and elsewhere — and each one had its own personality and loyal following. Families would drive past closer grocery stores to get to their preferred Schwegmann's, because in New Orleans, loyalty to your grocery store is only slightly less intense than loyalty to your parish.
The Schwegmann Political Dynasty
The Schwegmann name didn't stay confined to the grocery business. John G. Schwegmann Jr. served as a Louisiana State Senator and was elected Jefferson Parish President. The family's populist reputation — built on fighting for lower prices and serving working-class neighborhoods — translated naturally into politics. The Schwegmann name on a ballot carried the same weight as the Schwegmann name on a grocery store: trustworthy, local, and on the side of the regular people.
The End
By the 1990s, the grocery landscape had shifted. National chains like Winn-Dixie and Walmart were expanding aggressively into the New Orleans market, bringing corporate efficiency and buying power that a family-owned chain couldn't match. Schwegmann's struggled to compete, and internal family disputes over the direction of the business didn't help matters.
In 1997, the chain was sold, and by 1999, the Schwegmann's name had disappeared from storefronts across the metro area. Some locations were converted to other grocery stores. Others sat empty. The massive buildings — built for the Schwegmann's model of everything under one roof — proved difficult to repurpose, and some became the kind of vacant big-box shells that haunt suburban landscapes across America.
The Legacy
More than two decades after the last Schwegmann's closed, the name still carries weight in New Orleans. People give directions using former Schwegmann's locations as landmarks. The stores come up in conversation with the same warmth and specificity usually reserved for beloved relatives. And the phrase "making groceries" endures — a small, daily reminder of a time when even something as mundane as buying food felt like a distinctly New Orleans activity.
Schwegmann's understood something that national chains never quite grasp: in New Orleans, food isn't just sustenance. It's culture, identity, and community. A grocery store that gets that — that puts a bar next to the bread aisle and sells live crawfish next to the paper towels — isn't just a store. It's a reflection of the city it serves. And that's what New Orleans lost when the Schwegmann's signs came down.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Schwegmann's close?
Schwegmann's was sold in 1997 and the last stores closed by 1999, ending over 50 years of operation that began with the first store opening on Elysian Fields Avenue in 1946.
What made Schwegmann's different from other grocery stores?
Schwegmann's stores were enormous, selling not just groceries but tires, appliances, prescriptions, and more under one roof. Some locations even had bars inside. The chain anticipated the warehouse club and supercenter model decades before it became mainstream.
What was the Schwegmann's Supreme Court case?
In Schwegmann Brothers v. Calvert Distillers Corp. (1951), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Schwegmann's, striking down fair trade laws that set minimum liquor prices. The decision had national implications for retail pricing.
What does "making groceries" mean?
"Making groceries" is a New Orleans expression meaning to go grocery shopping. It comes from the French "faire les courses" and remains a distinctive part of the local vocabulary. The phrase is closely associated with Schwegmann's, where generations of New Orleanians did their weekly shopping.
Did the Schwegmann family go into politics?
Yes. John G. Schwegmann Jr. served as a Louisiana State Senator and was elected Jefferson Parish President. The family's populist reputation from the grocery business translated into a successful political career.
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