Within an AJC article this morning about Savi Provisions coming opportunities/challenges with a revived Amazon-owned Whole Foods, there this little nugget which will be of great interest to many Decatur folks…
[Savi owner Paul Nair is] deep into plans to expand Savi Provisions, whose stores take up a fraction of the space covered by typical Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. He plans to open an outlet on Pharr Road in Buckhead in late fall and another this summer in Decatur where a Cook’s Warehouse had been.
Savi is an upscale local grocery store with four Atlanta locations to date. Check out their website for more info.
I would go just to support any grocery store in town.
Brilliant. Love Savi!
I’ve been waiting so long for this! Amazing!
I am absolutely thrilled! I love Savi in Inman Park and have long pined for one in Decatur!
Terrific. A place to get a “roadie” at the end of the day!
Yeah, this is awesome.
Do I understand correctly that this is the company the City has been lobbying so hard for to allow liquor sales in Decatur? If the request to sell liquor is denied, will Savi still come in?
My question is: if it is state law that we are trying to override to get the liquor sales (and the dealer group said we won’t be able to), how is it that Savi sells liquor already at another location?
From what another commenter noted the other day, they separate the sales of liquor from all other sales, which makes it legal on a state level. Decatur already approved the sale of liquor inside the city limits at the last meeting. So it’s basically already a done deal.
I guess it just will never make sense that the dealer group said it couldn’t be done.
Here’s the best explanation of the details I’ve come across: The dealer group was working off a broad, limited definition of what’s being proposed when they commented. It is illegal at the state level for a grocery to sell liquor. It will continue to be. But you can have liquor solid in proximity to or in context with groceries so long as they are processed with separate transactions and treated as separate business units. That’s how the state gets satisfied.
The issue in Decatur is that the sale of retail liquor was outlawed in any capacity. What the commission allowed was the selling of liquor downtown so long as groceries are also sold (in accordance with state rules described above). This is an effort to prevent stores that are solely liquor stores and nothing else.
So, put the two things together and you get grocery stores in downtown Decatur that are legally allowed to sell alcohol in proximity to groceries.
I don’t believe anyone lobbied the city “so hard.” They had a conversation in which the city asked what it would take for them to consider locating here. Savi explained and the city made it happen. There wasn’t much to it other than Economic Development doing their basic job.
Ironic timing…but another local market is opening in summer 2017. Decatur Market (www.thedecaturmarket.com) coming soon, across from Kimball House! Lots of walkable options in the near future.
Yay! Cool looking building. I’m glad it’s being put to good use.
Susan beat me to it. Been following the progress of The Decatur Market (www.thedecaturmarket.com) for a couple months now. Looks like they should be opening up very soon!
A lovely complement would be a Sweet Auburn style “food hall” in the Harken/Ruby Tuesday space that will soon be up for rent.
Exciting news!!!
This is about the best possible replacement for Cooks.
I’m assuming this will be one of only two Savi’s to sell liquor (the one near us in Midtown doesn’t), as state law limits the # of stores with the same owner to two. Or are Savi’s individually owned?
Was living in Inman Park when the first Savi opened up there. Good ownership who listens to their customers and makes adjustments over time. Great fit for that stretch of road, and just as importantly, they have a track record for successfully running a business without super convenient parking available.
Does that mean it delivers?
I think it means they understand the art of catering to people who are doing daily/every other day type of shopping as opposed to, for example, the L’il Kroger, which is set up to suggest that they cater to weekly/every other week shopping but, given their size, they can’t really compete all that well with the selection in a larger store.
Daily/every other day shoppers tend to be neighborhood folks who walk there. Depending on the floor size, it takes between 1,000 and 2,500 households to make for a viable neighborhood grocery. The Savi location will have (once Callaway is done) around 1,600 multi-family households with a three block walk. And that’s not even counting the single family neighborhood north of W Ponce. So I think the idea is cater specifically to those folks, leaving the parking lot less crammed for people beyond those borders passing by.
The Decatur location will have as much (or more) parking as any of them (except, I’m assuming, Buckhead).
Exactly. I think that’s what JC meant when he said “they have a track record for successfully running a business without super convenient parking available.” They’ve figured out how to make a neighborhood-serving market work in ways other than catering primarily to drive-up customers.
It probably should be said, for those who’ve never been to a Savi and are expecting a small grocery store, that they are really closer to a beer/wine package store that has some food items (and almost all prepared food, btw). And though I’ve found their beer and wine prices to be reasonable for a convenience store, the food items are quite expensive.