GRAND CHENIER, La. — Booth's Grocery was first built in 1957, right after Hurricane Audrey.
It quickly became a lifeline of the Grand Chenier community.
"Oh, it was a place for people to come to drink, gossip, talk. My mother used to stay open—as long as people were here, she'd stay open," said Earl Booth, co-owner and manager of Booth's Grocery.
Though Earl's dad built the original store himself, it truly belonged to Earl's mother, Ella Mae Booth, or T-Mae, as everyone called her.
When the original building was destroyed in 2005 from Hurricane Rita, T-Mae insisted on it being rebuilt.
"She says 'I don't care if I don't make but a penny a month, I'm gonna reopen,' and she did," said Michaeil Booth, T-Mae's daughter-in-law and assistant manager at Booth's Grocery. "T-Mae was very much into visiting with people. It kept the community alive."
Unfortunately, T-Mae passed on July 10 of last year, and the community of Grand Chenier has only gotten smaller, but those who remain are still regulars to Booth's Grocery.
"I've been coming down to Grand Chenier for about 44 years," said Randall Babineaux, a regular at Booth's Grocery. "We'd come sit on the bench in the store in the mornings, and I would stock the shelves and everything to pass the time of day while they'd smoke cigarettes and drink beer on the bench, you know. That was my weekends. So, I loved doing that and going to keep coming down here as long as the good Lord is willing."
Or, as long as the store is still around.
T-Mae's children are looking to sell the business, though Michaeil tells me she hopes whoever buys it will continue its legacy under the name Booth's Grocery, even if other things change.
"Booth's Grocery—the ambiance. You got to be here to know the feeling. You can't know the feeling until you come here to Booth's Grocery, comma-to-the-top-S," Babineaux said.
So, if you want to know that feeling, I'd suggest making the drive to Booth's Grocery at 5647 Grand Chenier Hwy. in Grand Chenier.
Whatever the future may hold for Booth's Grocery, one thing is for sure: this store and Mrs. T-Mae will not soon be forgotten.
