Matassa's grocery store in the French Quarter has a new owner with revival plans

When Zahran Bazzar officially takes over Matassa’s next Thursday, Dec. 4, the Lebanon-born businessman will become the latest steward of one of the French Quarter’s most enduring institutions. And he’s taking the reins at a moment when the neighborhood’s changing demographics, economic pressures and shifting retail landscape continue to challenge the survival of stalwarts like the century-old corner store.

Matassa’s has been a fixture at 1001 Dauphine Street since 1924 , when Giovanni “John” Matassa opened the doors to serve the Italian immigrant families who dominated the lower Quarter — so many, in fact, that the area was once nicknamed “Little Palermo.” Over the decades, the small grocery became a neighborhood mainstay, first under the elder Matassa and later his descendants, evolvin