EAST BATON ROUGE La.—The $245-million Pelican State CU recently gave away $4,000 in groceries in less than two hours to promote the grand opening of its new Zachary branch on Main Street here.
Pelican State gave away the cash in $20 vouchers to local LeBlanc’s Food Stores. The money was handed out to shoppers who began lining up at the store’s Baton Rouge location at 7:30 a.m.
The credit union’s staff greeted customers as they walked into the store, explaining there were no rules tied to the giveaway, including no minimum purchase. CU employees also assisted shoppers with their grocery carts, bagging items and carrying groceries to customers’ vehicles.
According to LeBlanc’s co-owner Randy LeBlanc, the business was more traffic than the store typically receives on a Friday morning at that time, and most shoppers purchased more than the $20 voucher allowed.
“It was a win-win,” Pelican State’s Leigh Porta told The Advocate. “It’s important to support local businesses, and we wanted to partner with a family owned grocery store for this event in order to give back to the community that has given so much to us.”
Slices of cake were given to shoppers as they exited the market, as well as financial information on the types of accounts and investments Pelican offers.