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Original
location - 1963 |
Bob
and Carol Johnson left Kansas City in 1962 to help Bob's brother-in-law,
Junior Collins, with a service station that Junior built on the west side
of Highway 19 at the intersection of Highway 94. Bob had been
working for a food broker and supermarket in Kansas City and was looking
for the opportunity to start a business when Collins requested his
help. Bob ran the service station while Collins put up a building
next to the station to house the original Loutre Food Market.
The first day of business for Loutre Food
Market was on June 10, 1963. The store was an instant success as Bob
and Carol didn't even get the doors open before they sold their first
item. The night before the store opened, someone stopped by and
bought a block of salt. They always kept blocks of salt in the store
from that day forward.
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Second
building - 1965 |
When the doors opened on June 10th, Laura
Allemann was the first customer. After a month in business, Bob and
Carol decided they needed some help. Their first employee was Knally
Boehm. Loutre Market quickly outgrew their first building and in July of
1965 they moved into a larger building next door. Five years later,
they moved to the east side of Highway 19 where the building remained for
32 years.
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The third
location of Loutre Market opened in 1970. |
Loutre Market continued to grow as the
building was enlarged several times. Loutre Market was always known
as the "Land of high water and low prices". Although low
prices were an everyday occurrence, high water threatened the store four
times.
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The flood of
1986 |
The first major flood was in 1973.
In 1986, water crept to the front door step, but never reached the floor
of the store. The basement was full of water, but the store survived
with limited damage. In 1993, a major flood knocked out a large
section of Highway 19 just south of the intersection with Highway
94. Access to the store from the south was cut off for several
months as Highway 19 was rebuilt. In 1995, high waters threatened
the store again, but no damage was done.
On September 15, 2002, the
building which housed Loutre Market since 1970, caught fire and was
completely destroyed. Bob and Carol were living upstairs in an
apartment they had built in 1977 when the fire broke out. They both
escaped unharmed, but lost not only their business, but the vast majority
of their personal belongings.
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A
very sad scene - September 15, 2002 |
Although Bob and Carol decided not to
rebuild the store they owned for almost 40 years, the history of
Loutre Market is not yet complete. Bob and Carol have been
instrumental in helping Erik and Melody Palladino with the re-opening of
the store.
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The
New Loutre Market - 2004 |
The new Loutre Market opened on December
5, 2003. On June 10, 2004, Loutre Market celebrated 40 years of
operation between the two store ownerships.
With the continued support of the
community, Loutre Market's future will be as "special" as it's
past.
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