The Death of the Downtown Grocery Dream?
Decatur Metro | June 18, 2010Winnona Park Stud writes in…
You have been clamoring for a downtown grocery store. Publix is moving into downtown Avondale Estates.
It will anchor a large mixed use development. with 2 to 3 Publix hovering on Decatur’s perimeter and a lil’ Kroger squarely within the critical zone, is this the nail in the downtown decatur grocery store dream coffin?
They’ve been saying a Publix is going in Avondale Estates for over 5 years now. Has there been any new development that makes its appearance imminent?
Yes. Publix is (and has been for a while) one of the key anchors of downtown AE’s master redevelopment plan. That plan got put on hold due to the recession but word on the street is that the developer has now secured the financing necessary to get started.
The dream isn’t that we have a grocery in downtown Decatur. We have one. The dream is we get a much better one, because Lil Kroger is not good.
Would love a little Publix!
Amen!
Hates gonna hate
Gah. Why can’t we delete/edit posts? You know what I mean though.
Living south of the tracks, an Avondale Publix may actually be easier to get to for me. Take that, Northside.
Actually, I think all of Decatur will use it since it’s close to Figo’s, Farmer’s Market, Glennwood Estates, Winnona Park, and other destinations that all of Decatur go to. The intersections at Clairemont and Scott and Clairemont and N. Decatur can be real deterrents to shopping at the closer Emory Commons Publix. It’s probably just as quick to get to as the DeKalb Industrial Kroger. And after all, Northside parents cross the tracks for Oakhurst, Renfroe, and soon Fifth Avenue so they might as well keep going over to Avondale after dropping off or picking up the kiddies.
I guess I am a rebel cause I never go to anything over in that direction except the doctor
Have to admit that I don’t go that way quite as much since Avondale Pizza moved out of its decrepit but quaint and fun digs. The new location has better food but less charm. But a good grocery store might pull me beyond Figo’s.
Do you ever go to Duck’s? i always want to but never do….
We like it a lot but the hours/location don’t mesh with our schedule enough. But the food is always worthwhile–either eat in or take out.
I love Duck’s. But weird hours.
You positively SHOULD go eat at Duck’s. I’ve never been disappointed. Fine, fine (and beautiful) food.
Agreed, Chira. I’d go so far as to say some of the best food in Decatur.
The great Avondale Estates secret is the Pine Street Market. Excellent store cured bacon and sausages and several brands of GA cheeses.
ch
Where is it? Um, maybe on Pine Street, but where is that?
It’s to the left and behind of James Joyce. Great salami, meat and cured cheeses.
Sorry, meant cured meats and cheeses.
Not trying to be a wiseacre here, but try Google Maps on their home page…it’s like Google in that you put in what information that you have (Pine Street Avondale Georgia)and it narrows the map down to where you want. Couldn’t live without it.
Every time I drive by there, they’re closed. I mean every time. Is the bacon very good, like better than the Eden Farms bacon at YDFM? After eating Eden Farms, I will never eat supermarket cured bacon again.
Just wanted to thank you for posting this. I had no idea the Pine Street Market existed until I read it and went there yesterday afternoon and came home with 2 kinds of salami and Italian sausage. What a wonderful little shop. So delighted it’s there. I now have a new addiction!
You are a nerd! XO, SD
Lil Kroger never ever ever ever ever ever ever has what I go in there to buy. Never. It’s a big joke around here now. Seriously, if you need peanut butter, they’re out. If you need mustard, they’re out. Of every brand. If you need bread, the entire bread aisle is empty. We resolve over and over to NEVER go there again, and yet every now and then we think–”How can they really and truly NOT have ANY applies at all? It’s impossible.” And then we get there and sure enough, they don’t have apples.
had the exact same problem with just trying to get half n half for our coffee. Really how can a grocery store be out of half n half?
Apparently people are buying stuff faster than they can restock it. I would also bet that they don’t have much storage area in back so they have to wait on a truck.
Any store that might move into downtown — Trader Joe’s or whatever — will require three times the parking that Little Kroger has.
Long ago I was the Dairy/Frozen Food manager at a Winn-Dixie so I have a theory. I don’t know about Kroger but at Winn-Dixie when we ordered store brand milk products (which would also include things like half-and-half, buttermilk, heavy cream), we had to order in such a way that the number of crates filled a whole number of pallets. This is fine for a large store where there is enough base business that weekly changes in customer habits don’t matter. For a small store though, even a small number of extra people buying a product one week can make a big difference and deplete inventory. Since product must be bought in corporate mandated increments, ordering a bit extra to accommodate the weeks when there is extra demand would lead to there being a huge amount of waste every week even when the extra demand was there.
Most Kroger stores are large and the whole supply chain has likely been optimized for that. Small stores in the company are an exception and likely will have problems that come from dealing with policies designed for much larger locations. This might also extend to outside vendors who have a set schedule for when they’re allowed to stock in Kroger stores. Those hours might work fine for a large location but at a small location, there might not be enough product sold to make it worth the vendor’s time to hit that store more than once a week. More flexible receiving hours could allow the vendor to stop by whenever they’re in the area instead of when the corporate mandated receiving hours are scheduled.
Independent stores can adjust their policies to accommodate their small size and even chains that have small stores or even a mix of large and many small stores can make separate policies for dealing with them. I suspect that a Trader Joe’s or an Aldi would do a better job than Kroger at keeping the shelves stocked because small stores are what they specialize in.
So THAT’S why I have such a time buying plain soy milk there! Makes perfect sense! I’ve mentioned it to the store folks a number of times about how the sales aren’t reflecting the true demand because the case is always empty. Wonder if they could do some creative storage sharing with Big Kroger? Of course I’ll keep on going back! At this point, it’s become a goal to snag a carton! (And I like Baby Kroger for for picking up just a few things. I guess they won my heart with the “Thank you Kroger Customers!” sign…)
(Gosh, I miss Winn-Dixie! Loved their banana & key lime pie yogurts. And their cottage cheese was the best!)
give the mini Kroger some love, close enough to bike. They have gotton better in carrying things like tofu, sushi, and some other ogranics. Plus, do you remember the store before mini-kroger, that place was a dump. Goooooooooooooo mini Kroger, the perfect suplement to the Farmers Market (both the big one and Wednesday & Saturday in downtown Decatur).
I’m a happy customer of Little Kroger. Maybe I know what they have, and tailor my needs accordingly. This spring I found ripe avocados there which I needed at the last minute. Big Kroger’s and Your DeKalb Farmer’s Market’s were rock hard. The cashiers are usually very friendly. Trash in the parking lot I can ignore. Yeah, they don’t have everything, or a big selection like in the big stores, but I like not having to walk a mile from the car to the store, and being able to cruise the aisles quickly. And it’s on the way home from work.
i also find the baby Kroger to be very convenient for grabbing a few little things. i’m not doing the bulk of my shopping there, but it is what it is.
Once I went to the Baby Kroger and they didn’t even have chicken. How is that possible? But yet, I still keep going back. There’s still plenty of beer and wine.
Yep, the Lil’ Kroger is horrible. Filthy. Crowded with crap no one wants, but yet out of what folks need. Poor service. I often talked to the mgr. about the overflowing trashcans in parking lot with trash blowing around, dirty filthy floors, etc. He smiled: “Oh yes we are working on that”. That was three years ago. How can Kroger corporate not notice and allow it to continue?
Clearly you have never been to Murder Kroger
What are the chances my Pre-K kid will get into CHELC before the school year starts with a waiting list of 15 resident kids ahead of me… Probably not very good…
Sorry I meant to post this over in FFAF…long week.
I may be the only person south of the Mason-Dixon line who feels this way, but I won’t shop at Publix because the company has a long history of union-busting and it’s owned by a family with a notorious record of supporting some of the crazier people on the conservative side (i.e. Anita Bryant). Grungy old Kroger doesn’t have the greatest labor relations record, either, but it’s a solid UFCW shop. And though the CEO and I will probably never cross paths in a voting booth, on the whole, Kroger’s political giving is much more balanced. Be a smart shopper — know who you’re giving your money to and who they give it to, in turn.
I’ve always enjoyed shopping at Publix, and now you have given me another reason to like them. Any company known for resisting unions will get my business every time. Personal experience at my company have shown me first-hand just how destructive unions are.
Free Norma Rae!
And Westchester!
Is that why Kroger stores are always dirty and tend to have lots of extra workers doing nothing but standing around? Sorry, but unions don’t impress me. It’s been my experience that union companies offer poorer quality and service than their non-union counterparts.
Publix keeps their stores much cleaner and has better trained employees with better social skills than their Kroger counterparts. Look at the East Lake Publix and then take a look at the Memorial Drive Citi-Kroger. It’s like a completely different world and yet the two stores compete for the same demographic groups in the same geographic area. They should be comparable in quality and service but they aren’t.
As I said, I may be the only person south of the Mason-Dixon line. I’ve always been intrigued at the extreme reaction people who’ve never lived in places with organized labor have for organized labor, and the stereotypes they adopt about it. Sometimes, it feels like I’m living in North Korea instead of North Georgia…
You won’t buy a gallon of milk from Publix because they’re not unionized, and others have extreme reactions on the subject? Ok then.
Personally, I don’t care if the supermarkets are unionized or not. If the employees don’t want to work there, they don’t have to. Their financial welfare and job satisfaction is their concern, not mine.
I agree with you that unions aren’t a big, scarey thing. They became common in the early 20th Century for a reason–individual workers didn’t have the legal, political, or financial ability to fight unfair or abusive employment practices on the part of big organizations that often dominated the entire labor market. Like any other organization made up of human beings, private or public, unions can be benign or malignant. Some unions, e.g unions of nurses or physicians have been more about demanding decent patient care than about wages or benefits.
Not commenting on unions here, but I can’t believe someone wrote “If the employees don’t want to work there, they don’t have to”. What if it’s the only job they can get? Or what if it’s the only job that has the hours they need that’s on the bus route to the daycare they use? What if they have a pre-existing health condition and can’t leave their jobs because they can’t leave their insurance (if grocery employees even have insurance that is)? People are often pretty stuck in their jobs for a whole host of reasons!
Has anyone else noticed how smelly the fish section of publix always is, though (at the Clairmont one and the East Lake one at least)? It’s often so bad that I have to completely avoid that part of the store, and when I was pregnant I couldn’t really shop at Publix at all (the smell was too overwhelming). Is it bad fish, or weird cleaning practices?
East Lake and 2nd Avenue to PDL to Scott to Clairmont and N. Decatur = 6 minutes.
East Lake and 2nd Avenue to College to downtown Avondale Estates = 10 minutes.
Oh, school is in session? Make that 15.
Is there still hope for a Trader Joes?
No, Trader Joe’s will be forever hopeless.
Thankfully. They are waaaaaaaay over-rated. I have been in TJ’s many times (with a friend who is a TJ fan) and I usually find less than $10 of merchandise that I actually want to buy. Then I take my sack outside and watch the dog parking scene until she comes out with a load of stuff. I’m a Publix fan myself, plus YDFM.
I’m also confused about Trader Joes – I buy 2 items there (frozen chinese dumplings and a particular breakfast cereal). What else is good there, I’d love to know?
Thank you.
We have this conversation on here all the time. I am usually you. I think it boils down to people who cook a particular way vs. people who don’t.
Frozen Naan bread, frozen organic brown and white rice, mango slices, grapes, frozen canapes (actually I’m not really sure what a canape is–it’s a 1950s concept, I think, but I mean cute pastry things one could serve at a party or eat for lunch oneself when no one was looking), frozen pizzas, yogurt.
I’m a die-hard TJ’s fan. I got hooked when I was living in the Boston area, and now I need my fix once a week.
All of these are must-haves for my household:
– Honey Nut Joe’s O’s (knockoff Cheerios, better than the real thing!)
– Blue Diamond almond milk (cheapest I’ve found in town)
– Dr. Praeger’s Tex-Mex veggie burgers
– Cuban style black beans (canned)
– Fire-roasted tomatoes with green chilis (canned)
– quinoa
– Vanilla Almond Granola
– frozen meals (my fiance eats them almost every day for lunch; his current fave is the spicy Vegetable Panang Curry)
– frozen tilapia fillets
– snacks (dried fruit, nuts, cereal bars, brown rice krispie treats)
– pesto-filled tortellini (dry)
– Tomato Basil pasta sauce
– Southern greens blend (fresh)
– various juices (spiced cider, tropical carrot juice, blackberry crush…)
– party treats (cheap wine, frozen appetizers like the mini quiches…)
I think a lot of it does come down to what you like to cook. I’m a busy grad student and favor one-pot meals that are fast and tasty. Combining some fresh ingredients with some of TJ’s frozen or canned offerings makes my life easier.
Great Parmesan croutons
Condiments without HFCS.
What else is good at TJ? Organic frozen pizzas and wild shrimp are good items to have in your freezer. People talk about their wine, but IMHO their price point is around $6.99 to $8.99 where you can find some excellent values. I avoid the $2 buck chuck. What you have to look out for are the special lots that they buy and are there for a limited time. There are some excellent values there at the price points I mentioned.
Trader Joe favorites:
organic brown rice cakes
TJ’s NonFat Plain Frozen Yogurt
Midnight Moo – chocolate syrup without corn syrup
Italian truffle cheese
Tuscan Pane bread
organic eggs
Trader Joe’s 0% Fat Plain Greek Yogurt – half the price of Fage
organic milk
Trader Joe’s Salsa Verde
Bags of good pasta for 99cents
good canned tomatoes
canned tuna
Peppermint Joe-Joe’s – Xmas cookies, safe for vegans
Bool Kogi
frozen brown rice
Unsalted butter
unfiltered Concord grape juice
Mini savory edamame crackers– new favorite snack.
We walk to the Lil’ Kroger all the time to get that one ingredient forgotten at YDFM or Publix. Plus, they always have Carnation Non-dairy Coffee Creamer. We affectionately refer to it as the Kroger Wine Store, because the selection is decent.
Yes, I’ve always been pleasantly surprised by the wine selection at that Kroger, and often stop in their if I need to buy a bottle pretty last minute
stop in THEIR?
just checking.
I don’t think so because what most of us dream of is a store that specializes in natural foods (organics, locals, grass-fed beef, etc.) and is more like a market than a full-blown grocery store. Sort of like a Sevananda co-op with meat (as Decatur Metro has suggested before!) or at least a Trader Joe’s or mini-Whole Foods. And I still think a store like that is possible and would do well, even if Avondale Publix opens soon. My preference would be for it to be located at the former Big H in Oakhurst, but I’d be OK with downtown Decatur as well.
If anyone has canned goods from 1976, we could just reopen the Big H
You might want to check the expiration dates of all your pantry stash. Ugh.
Erm, didn’t a church (NAVO) take over that spot already?
1) Chira, that was a reference to the fact that everything except the cigarettes at the Big H was very old, not my own cabinets.
2) Nope; Navo is in another church space and the space occupied by a junk dealer who actually killer antiques. The Big H is still empty. Knowing what I do about that landlord, I have no doubt they’d fail to renew the lease of that poor church should a grocery store pop up.
YES PLEASE!
Weaver Street Market, Carrboro, NC
Fosters Market, Durham, NC
Google ‘em. Either concept would crush it in Decatur. They require a lot of startup cash, good operators, and plenty of hippies willing to work coop shifts. All of which should be in abundance around here.
TJ’s is a supplemental food store. It is not a grocery store.
That being said, they have good and cheap wines, better than average frozen meals, and good deals on condiments, dried nuts, etc.
I ask this sincerely – which are the good, cheap wines at TJs?
The Charles Shaw wine, more commonly called “Two-Buck Chuck”. Though I think the prices run around $3 now. The grapes used are apparently of a lower quality but I can’t tell.
TJ also has Australian varieties of three-buck-chuck which are also three bucks and are the best going anywhere for that price.
We like Valreas (red). Recommended as great cheap wine by a local fancy pants sommelier.
Am I the only person left who remembers and loved the Lil Kroger when it was Harris Teeter? It was clean, well stocked, and the food quality was better. But then people complained because we all loved it, so it was crowded. Still love shopping there when I’m out of town.
And before that it was the A&P then the Big Star
It appears Avondale will get their store: http://bit.ly/bur3oc
I leave the city to shop now, either to the big Kroger on DeKalb Industrial or Publix at Emory Commons, so I would go to Avondale, too.
Lil Kroger just never has what I want, and is it me, or are they really unfriendly?
Talk about a thread getting hijacked…..I want to know if the AE project is really coming out of the ground!!!
Well, since no-one said it:
aside from whoever owns the property (and wants a rediculous asking price), I still long for a small Oakhurst grocery