Where There’s a Problem, There’s a Solution

Situated on the corner of Fats Domino Avenue and Galvez Street, a building covered in colorful murals stands as a symbol of resilience in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Across the back, bold letters spell out “Lower 9 Strong.” Benches painted with uplifting messages surround the entrance, welcoming visitors to the first grocery store to open in the neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina.

The store belongs to Burnell Cotlon, a lifelong Lower Ninth Ward resident who saw a problem in his neighborhood and decided to solve it himself.

Cotlon shared the mindset he has for any issue that arises in his life. Where there’s a problem, there’s always a solution.

This mindset is what urged Cotlon to open the first grocery store in the Lower Ninth Ward, post-Hurricane Katrina.

“You should not have to catch three city buses to get a loaf of bread to feed your family. This is the United States of America; this is not a third-world country,” Colton said. “So, it was a no-brainer to me. I had to do something about it. There’s always an answer to every problem. You may not like the answer, but there always is one. No grocery store? Build one.”

Burnell’s Lower 9th Ward Market: A Community Lifeline

In 2015, a decade after Hurricane Katrina swept away most of the Lower Ninth Ward, Cotlon opened his grocery store, Burnell’s Lower 9th Ward Market.

Cotlon’s shop is more than just a grocery store. Rather, it’s a community hub. It’s barber shop, hair salon, snowball stand, kitchen, laundromat and, of course, a grocery store, all in one building.

“This store means a lot to a lot of people,” Cotlon said.

On a day-to-day basis, Cotlon’s store has a strong impact on his community, which is reflected through the experiences he has had throughout the years. He shared that he plays loud music outside each day, and some people gather there simply to dance. Others will come to just watch people go back and forth.

“The things that have happened to me in this store, it blows my mind,” Cotlon said. “I’ve had people come to my store and cry because they finally have a store all these years after Katrina.”

Cotlon shared several experiences he has had with people from within his community over the years. He shared about a time his store was even transformed into a daycare for day.

“I’m the only business in that area, so people get to know me, I get to know them,” Cotlon said. “So, if you go and get a job, you will have to leave the Lower Ninth Ward to get on a city bus to get to other parts of the city. I had this one lady, she didn’t have a babysitter, but she had the opportunity to get a job, and she begged me to babysit. I said ‘yeah, no problem.’”

Cotlon shared that she got the job she interviewed for that day.

Another time, an elderly man came into Cotlon’s store.

“He came up to me and gave me a hug, and I had never seen this man a day in my life, but he knew who I was,” Cotlon said.

He continued to share about the man who told him about how his son loved Cotlon, after seeing him on the Ellen DeGeneres show. His son passed away before he ever got to visit Cotlon’s store.

The man had come to see if he could spread some of his son’s ashes surrounding the store. Cotlon requested one thing from the man before the ashes were spread. He wanted to pray with him.

“It touched my heart. I never thought in a thousand years that some grocer out of a little itty-bitty window could touch this many people’s hearts,” Cotlon said. “If you had told me this, I would have said impossible. Sometimes, I still think it’s a dream, but it’s my real life.”

In addition to getting attention from DeGeneres, Cotlon’s store has grabbed the attention of several other big names.

Mark Zuckerberg made a personal appearance at the store.

“One day I was in my store, sweeping my floor, and I turned around, and Mark Zuckerberg walked in my door,” Cotlon said. “My mouth dropped. I was like ‘wait, what?’”

According to Cotlon, Zuckerberg spent the entire day there. He wanted to meet Cotlon and see the store after reading an article that was published in the Washington Post.

Another time, Cotlon received a phone call from Bill Clinton.

“When he first called, I almost hung up on him,” Cotlon said. “I thought it was a joke, but it was really him.”

The idea behind Cotlon’s store is simple: he wants to see the “Lower Ninth Ward bounce back like the rest of the city.”

The Day Everything Changed

On the day that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Cotlon had no idea just how devastating it would be to the Lower Ninth Ward, the place in which he had spent the bulk of his life. Now, the memories from that day are at the forefront of his memory.

“A lot of people think because it happened so long ago, it’s gone, it doesn’t mean anything, but I remember it like it was yesterday,” Cotlon said.

At the time, Cotlon worked as a manager at McDonald’s. He recalled giving out food for free on the day of the hurricane and closing early. When he got home, he laid down in bed and fell asleep. Quickly, his slumber was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.

After ignoring about ten phone calls, Cotlon picked up. It was his mother.

“I’ve never heard fear in my mom’s voice,” Cotlon said.

That was until he answered the phone on that day. Cotlon was met with his mother begging him to come pick her up, so they could evacuate out of New Orleans.

“I remember grabbing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt,” Cotlon said. “We thought we were going to go evacuate and then come right back. So, I went and grabbed my mom.”

Cotlon and his Mom drove about four hours up the state of Louisiana, when they arrived at a shelter. They were surrounded by a crowd of others, fleeing from New Orleans, just as they had.

In the shelter, Cotlon, his mother and several others huddled around a tiny television screen.

“We saw the levees break; we saw the city going under water,” Cotlon said. “Everybody was in shock. My mama broke down crying because the first thing she thought about was her son, Kevin.”

Cotlon’s brother, Kevin, chose not to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina.

“I went to my truck, and I cried. I got myself together, and I went back in the shelter, and I found my mom,” Cotlon said. “She was sitting on the side of her little cot, crying. I said, ‘Kevin’s going to be fine. Kevin is tough.’ She cried for a week straight. She was so sick, she was barely eating.”

Cotlon explained that one day, he got so bored in the shelter, he decided to drive to the town’s Walmart. He explained there was really nothing else to do. Little did he know that he would have an interaction that would alter the trajectory of his evacuation experience.

Cotlon was approached by a woman, a stranger, who recognized him as an evacuee. She asked Cotlon if she could hug him, before running to her car, after telling him she had something to give him.

She returned with a $20 bill.

“She didn’t know this, but I needed that $20,” Cotlon said.

In the trepidation of rapidly grabbing items to evacuate, Cotlon had never thought of grabbing a phone charger. Neither had the others staying with him in the shelter.

“The first thing I did, I ran right back to the shelter, I plugged my phone in because I’m thinking I want to talk to my family, my friends,” Cotlon said. “My phone rang, and guess who was on the other end? My brother Kevin. I remember running through the shelter. I jumped over a couple of people’s cots; I gave my mama the phone. She screamed; she was so happy Kevin was alive.”

Upon returning to the Lower Ninth Ward, Cotlon was faced with the harsh reality that he was going to have to begin again.

“I remember going to where my house was, on the foundation, and everything was gone,” Cotlon said. “My house, what was left of it, floated to the middle of the street. I don’t believe in problems; there’s a solution for everything. I lost my house; I have to rebuild.”

The same mindset that Cotlon had to rebuild his home inspired him to open his store, and will continue to drive him to restore his community.

The Lower Ninth Ward Before and After Katrina

Cotlon recalled memories of what it was like growing up in the Lower Ninth Ward.

“I had an amazing childhood. The Lower Ninth Ward, it was fun,” Cotlon said. “Even though it was a poor community, it was a community. We were able to help each other. Everybody looked out for each other.”

Cotlon shared that when he was growing up, the Lower Ninth Ward felt like “one big family.”

“Let’s say you were on the 1600 block up the street and you did something you weren’t supposed to, got into a fight, or disrespected someone, and you live on the 1900 block. By the time you get to the 1900 block, everybody that’s older than you is going to correct you,” Cotlon said. “You didn’t go hungry. If you were outside playing and got hungry, you would just run to your neighbor’s house and grab something to eat. Everyone knew everybody; it was just one big, beautiful family.”

For part of his early adulthood, Cotlon left New Orleans to serve in the military. When he returned to the Lower Ninth Ward, he bought a home.

“I had the perfect job, the perfect family, the perfect house. You couldn’t tell me I wasn’t going to live happily ever after,” Cotlon said. “But unfortunately, I came home just in time for Hurricane Katrina. I lost everything, just like everybody else. Everybody knows, it’s not a secret, Hurricane Katrina hit the Lower Ninth Ward the hardest. I had 38 neighbors when I first came home from the military. Today, in 2026, I have four.”

Cotlon explained that the Lower Ninth Ward residents were afraid to come back following Hurricane Katrina, so now, it’s nowhere near the same as it was.

“The few people that did come back, they’re hurting,” Cotlon said. “They’re hurting really bad.”

Cotlon has gotten requests from neighbors to do more for the neighborhood, such as building a funeral home, a daycare center or affordable housing.

With the acquisition of land through the city, Cotlon has started an affordable housing project.

“Right now, I want to help people with homes,” Cotlon said, “There’s a lot of people who need help.”

One day, he would also like to expand his store to have a second floor.

Reflecting on the past ten years and all the experiences that came from opening his store, Cotlon said, “I wish I didn’t have to use my entire life savings, but I don’t regret it. This is bigger than Burnell Cotlon. My community needed this. So, I did it.”

---

This story is part of a semester-long investigative reporting project into New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward nearly 21 years after Hurricane Katrina. It was created by an immersion journalism student in the Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies program at UW-Milwaukee. Other stories from the project are available on The Storm That Never Left: Inside New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward Nearly 21 Years After Katrina.

This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club, and a private donor.