A driveway sits poured and waiting off Louisiana Highway 3276 in Stonewall, but the grocery store it was meant to serve is nowhere close to opening. Harps Food Stores, the Arkansas-based chain planning the town's first dedicated supermarket, has made only limited progress on the project since laying that pavement, and Mayor Randy Rodgers says the company now expects to resume construction sometime in late 2027 or early 2028.
A Driveway Poured, Then Silence
The delay traces back to a Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development deadline. Harps was required to start construction by December 1, 2025, after filing permits in fall 2024, according to The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate. To preserve its highway access permit before that window closed, the company began paving a driveway on the site but has not continued building since. State DOTD policy addresses expiration and extensions for access driveway permits, per the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.
Rodgers told the newspaper he spoke with Harps Director of Real Estate Sarah Hopper in July, and she confirmed the company still owns the Stonewall land and that the driveway was poured specifically to beat the DOTD permit expiration. Hopper also indicated Harps had asked how long it could postpone construction without losing its tax benefit, the mayor said. Neither Hopper nor a Harps representative responded to the paper's requests for comment on the matter.
Why The Project Stalled Remains Unclear
Rodgers said he does not know the actual reason for the delay, but he has his own theories. He suggested interest rates or the company overextending itself on other projects could be factors behind the holdup, though he stopped short of stating either as confirmed. What is clear is that residents keep asking him about it. “I've lived here 21 years, and we've always wanted a grocery store here,” Rodgers told the Advocate, noting that Stonewall shoppers commonly bring up the missing supermarket when they see him around town.
That frustration lines up with the town's growth. Stonewall's population climbed from 1,814 residents in 2010 to 2,349 in 2020, and is now estimated near 2,700, according to World Population Review. That kind of growth helps explain why a town just south of Shreveport without a full-service grocery store remains so eager for the project to break ground again.
What The Finished Store Is Supposed To Look Like
Developer Justin Bagley has described the planned Harps as the anchor tenant of the Towne Square of Stonewall, a 30-acre commercial master plan along Highway 3276 meant to serve as a centralized retail and community hub, according to a LoopNet listing for the property. The store itself would sit on roughly five acres at 4753 off Highway 3276 and would likely measure between 20,000 and 25,000 square feet, per the developer's figures relayed in the Advocate's report. Plans call for a gas station, a bakery, a meat and seafood counter, deli meat, and hot and cold prepared meals, with the location expected to employ about 45 to 50 workers once it opens. No opening date has been set.
The corridor around the site has not sat idle while the grocery store waits. Highway 3276, also known as Stonewall-Frierson Road, underwent a $15 million rebuild completed in November 2024 by the state DOTD, reinforcing the 4.6-mile connector between I-49 and U.S. Route 171 to handle growing traffic. The same stretch has also seen the debut of Lumiere, a 32-acre seasonal holiday attraction, and Brassica Farm, a multi-use retail and dining venue, as part of a broader development surge along the corridor documented by Lola Magazine.
Harps' Louisiana Footprint So Far
Stonewall would mark the first Harps store actually built from the ground up in Louisiana. The company's only existing presence in the state is in Sunset, where it entered the Louisiana market in July 2023 by acquiring Janise's Supermarket, a 49-year-old family-owned grocery store, according to 973 The Dawg. That acquisition fit a broader pattern: in fiscal year 2023, Harps bought roughly 40 existing retail grocers across the South, netting 34 new locations in states including Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, as reported by The Shelby Report.
Founded in 1930 in Springdale, Arkansas, Harps became a 100% employee-owned company in 2001 through a leveraged buyout from the founding Harp family, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. In 2023, the chain had 146 stores in six states. Harps first announced the Stonewall location in fall 2024, and the company is reportedly eyeing several other Louisiana locations beyond this one. For now, Stonewall's leadership remains in place to keep tabs on the project: Rodgers won re-election as mayor in mid-2026, ensuring the same town hall that has been fielding residents' grocery store questions will be the one pressing Harps for answers going forward.
