I'm making my list. Checkin' it twice...

Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a decent grocery store. I know this isn’t a typical request, but the Robert’s on the corner of Elysian Fields is still a dark and desolate place – the roof is caved in and it’s not looking like there will be any activity there for the foreseeable future.

Even prior to the storm, the place was kind of outdated. But really I could find everything I needed there and the sideshow was spectacular. It was a store predominately patronized by African Americans and some of the more uh “unique” characters in town…being between the French Quarter and Bywater and all. And for some weird reason (a cosmic joke on the part of the grocery chain gods?) they only played cheesy white people music like “Horse With No Name” and “She’s Havin’ My Baby”, which struck me as extremely odd. I mean the store Uptown in the yuppie ‘hood plays Al Greene and Marvin Gay. Go figure.

Once at Robert’s I was behind Charmaine Neville in the check out line. Another time Kermit Ruffins. And now it sits. A cavernous shell. Open to the elements and decaying more every day. And there isn’t a grocery store for miles … unless you count the Mardi Gras market which until the storm sold only carnival beads. Post Katrina, it was turned into a very limited neighborhood grocery. One that provides neither air conditioning nor beer (!) so you can see we have a crying need for a real grocery store close by.

Please Santa, could you just persuade the Historic District Landmarks Commission that the fact that this particular Robert’s began its life as the first Schwegmann’s super market doesn’t necessarily qualify it as having “historical” significance??…Well, I would really appreciate that. I know that this is purely selfish on my part, but the drive uptown to Winn-Dixie to make groceries is a HUGE pain in the ass.

I'm not talkin' a gourmet market with organic tofu and free range chickens or anything. An ordinary Save A Center would really do the trick. And just to show you I can share the love...if you could throw in a pothole repair crew we would ALL be grateful.

Your friend,
Mary