SCI, Archdiocese of New Orleans Announce Plans

It was announced this week that Service Corporation International and the Archdiocese of New Orleans will collaborate on a plan to build a funeral home and cemetery on land owned by the Archdiocese in New Orleans.  You can read the press release from Globe News Wire here.

The combination unit, which will also have mausoleum crypts and cremation niches, will be highlighted by an 8,500 square foot funeral home named Grace Funeral Home.  According to the press release, the cemetery and funeral home will be operated entirely by Service Corporation International through a long-term lease agreement.

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is not a surprising development.  Those who have been around funeral service as long as I have may remember the agreement by Stewart Enterprises that was made with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the 1990’s to build Steward Enterprises funeral homes in Archdiocese cemeteries.  I believe that SCI operates those funeral homes today after their purchase of Steward Enterprises.

Stewart Enterprises did find in the Los Angeles case, however,  that the loyalty of families to their independent funeral homes was tremendous and it was difficult to get a footing with the new funeral homes.  However, over the long haul, it is pretty well proven that these combination cemetery/funeral home properties do very well.  When you are as deep pocketed as Service Corporation you have the ability to ride out the lean years and then put tremendous pressure on your competitors for their actual survival.

The “bread and butter” of funeral service in North America has always been the small, independent operator.  That is slowly changing as the large regional and national consolidators now have the financial strength to make these kinds of moves.  There will be more of these type of arrangements coming to your neighborhood in the not to distant future.

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