Greene’s Expanding; Will Soon Offer Growlers, Craft Beer, and Wine
Decatur Metro | May 3, 2012
If you like to spend countless waking hours trolling the Decatur city commission agendas and “meeting materials”, you may have noticed a while back that Greene’s Fine Foods on Trinity Avenue had applied for a liquor license.
“Hmm…interesting.”, you may have thought to yourself. And then moved on to diving neck deep into a subdivision of property application.
So, are you still curious as to why Greene’s applied for a liquor license? Well here ya go you instant gratification generation!
Please pardon our mess…we are doing a little work…
When you stop by Greene’s in Decatur over the next few weeks you will notice some exciting changes. Recently we did a little landscaping and are adding a new Garden Seating Area. Located under the Big Oak Tree, it will be a great spot for an Ice Cream, Hot Fudge Sundae, Frozen Yogurt, or other Sweet Treat.
We are also expanding our retail business and will start offering Growlers, Craft Beer, Wine, and Sodas. We will be making Custom Gift Baskets and have everything you need for your next Party or Hostess Gift… Imagine a gift basket full of our Famous Chocolate Pecans together with a Craft Beer or a bottle of Pinot. Now you will be able to get this at Greene’s.
We are thrilled to be able to expand into the other half of our historic building.
Have you ever wondered what was on the other side of the “Employee Only” door?
The expansion should be complete and ready for shopping in June.
Photo courtesy of Greene’s Fine Foods
Wow. I know we’ve already got lots of options for craft beer/growlers/wine, but this does sound kinda awesome. Maybe they’ll also start offering “adult” floats, a la FarmBurger…
+1,000
Awesome.
Oh yeah. Love this idea. My daughter always wants to go in there to check out the toys and candy. Definitely more likely if we can have a frozen yogurt for the four-year-old and a glass of wine for Mama. Sound business strategy.
I’ve often wondered how this place is still open. There doesn’t ever seem to be many people inside and it is quite a chunk of real estate.
Hope the new focus helps!
I believe the poet Ogden Nash said it best… Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!
Does this make a candy a “gateway drug” to growlers full o’ craft beer?
I certainly hope so!
Book stores close in Decatur but the booze parlors prosper.
Yeah, consider the profit margins for the two.
Maybe we could get an ebook store. Sell ebooks to ipads, laptops, and kindles and let people hang out…. and drink craft beer.
Gosh, I hate to put a damper on things but I have a little worry because Greene’s has served as a nice after-school hangout for the tween/early teen crowd. It’s on the way home from Renfroe for many. Most of the clientele in the afternoon is tweens and parents with young children. It’s not going to be quite as appropriate as a tween hangout with a new clientele looking for beer and wine.
That was my first thought too. I occasionally take my kids there for an after school treat and they love it. But in thinking about it more, I think it will still be okay. I figure most people looking for beer / wine would be coming in later in the day (after five pm / work probably) so I don’t think (or at least, I hope) it won’t be too different of an atmosphere.
Yep, my comment on this is the complete opposite of my comment on Froyolo last week. I am bummed at the subtraction of a place where our older kids can hang out after school that doesn’t offer caffeine and/or alcohol. (That sentence probably doesn’t pass the grammar test!) That leaves us Froyolo, Dairy Queen, and Yogurt Tap? And CFA?
I’ve also wondered how Greene’s has stayed open this long.
Do we want a town full of pubs, beer and wine stores, and empty store fronts? Shades of the Wild West.
Heh? How do pubs and beer/wine stores portend empty store fronts?
Certainly not! There’s plenty of room in those empty store fronts for more pubs and liquor stores.
Favorite comment of the year.
Maybe City of Decatur should require gun ownership like Kennesaw did or does! I can see our mayor in the role of gunslinger hero.
No. I would like to see at least one store in the city that sells hard liquor. And if they have a little freezer filled with Eskimo Pies, that’s OK, too.
+1
I, too, have often wondered how Greene’s managed to stay open. I wish them the best! Do Candy and Beer mix? Let’s find out!
Don’t know about candy and beer, but I can recommed ice cream and wine.
What is the definition of “offering?” Does that mean selling retail or serving?
Retail only, I believe.
You can’t do both – if they’re selling growlers and wine for gift baskets, that means they’ll be selling retail only, so there won’t be any drinking going on there. Without on-premises consumption, I don’t see how this changes things for the ‘tween set. I’m picturing a scaled-down Sherlocks, but instead of Cook’s Warehouse, it has candy and sweets on the other side. Sounds great to me.
Well, boo– I was hoping they’d be selling for consumption on-premises. Still wish them well, tho!
Me too, but I can live with it.
It is difficult to understand why parents (and I am one with 3 children) would not want their children to enter a very clean, well run, and fun store that also sells alcohol. Why treat alcohol as a mystery only “adults” can be near? Do you never let the kids enter a QT store when you buy gasoline?
This may be the first time I have ever agreed with you.
“Common ground, common ground”. Or to quote a Lou Reed lyric (he is speaking of Jesse Jackson) “or is that is that just a sound you make?”
Of course it’s fine for kids to be around alchohol whether it’s in the home, grocery store, or a restaurant. I just think that alcohol will change the atmosphere of Greene’s making it less of a ‘tween hangout. More adults will be there and it will be less about candy, ice cream, fudge, and gummies. Greene’s is one of the few good hangouts for ‘tweens on their way home from school–the juvenile feel to it made it particularly appropriate. Eleven to 13 year olds are still kiddies who like bright colors in the decor and bright colors in their confections. There’s still Yogurt Tap and Snoball Cafe but they don’t have the comfy couches that make Greene’s a cozy hangout. I even sit and read there sometimes while munching on maple walnut fudge……
“wonder how Greene’s stays open”
They have an online business. Perhaps that does very well. They may also be successful with commercial/business gifts.
Their gift boxes of nuts or candy are not cheap. If they sell a lot of those to businesses and corporations, they are profiting there. But I agree with those noting that it’s a huge, gorgeous space for the number of customers you see in there at any one time. It must have been a neat Post Office back in the day.
Don’t they also use the upstairs as offices for another business – Something in construction/building/architecture?
The Greene brothers’ parents own Pecans Unlimited in Augusta, a Nov-Dec business with a wildly loyal cult following. (I swear, my family must go there 10 times a day during their open season. Surprisingly, they haven’t yet overdosed on holiday nuts.)
I have always understood that this was more of a real estate venture for the Greene’s (they own the building). Instead of just letting it sit empty they decided to put the candy store in there.
I have always thought an old-fashioned soda fountain would be a great draw for Greene’s. I love the look of the store but have found it pricey and somewhat limited in appealing confections/toys to purchase. It would be fun for both kids and adults to sit at a marble counter and order a float or shake.
Yes!!!! Fantastic idea.
Have never been to Greene’s but a real soda fountain would pull me in. I’d go considerably out of my way for a real vanilla phosphate.
Where’s Scott?
One of the things I can’t justify to myself from an economic standpoint is the extinction of the lunch counter. Walmarts and Targets have those dead zone grandchildren of the lunch counter but nowhere else do you find a lunch counter. CVS? Dollar stores? I guess fast food also killed the lunch counter?
Btw my hometown had a Woolworths with a functioning lunch counter…at least up thru the 80s.
Not the Scott you were looking for, but I LOVED going to the counter at the 5&10 with my Grandfather when I was a kid. He used to sit there with his retired buddies and talk about who-knows-what, but I always felt so grown-up sitting with them. I had forgotten about that. Thanks for brightening my morning with a nice memory.
Santa Fe, New Mexico had a Woolworth’s with a lunch counter into the late 1990s. Not sure if it’s still there. Aren’t we the Santa Fe of Metro Atlanta?
Nothing like a lunch counter/soda fountain. I have such fond memories of going with my grandmother to lunch counters for a “Western” or grilled cheese. I agree with all that Greene’s would be a perfect setting for a soda fountain, lunch counter. It’s got lots of space. But I’m sure the profit margin would be nothing like what you get with beer/wine. And there’s got to be some $ involved with building one. Kitsch’n 155 would also be a good place for one.
There’s a lunch counter at the Candler Park Market that’s exactly what you’re talking about. There has also been one at times at the Little 5 Points Pharmacy – not sure if it’s still there today or not.
I was really hoping Oakhurst Market would go this direction, it clearly works in other intown stores at similar neighborhood densities. Instead they have become more of a retail outlet for the amazing food at Steinbecks, which is cool and all, but unfortunately doesn’t fill the general store need. Which left an opening that Family Dollar will go after, sans lunch counter.
Add Drugs in Athens (in Five Points) has been rockin’ their lunch counter since the 60′s when its shopping strip neighbors were Plaza Five & Dime and Bell’s grocery store. (Earthfare is in those spots now.) Something similar would be such a good fit for Oakhurst– next door to Family Dollar if there’s room, or if not, in the next available spot. If it also had a mini post office, it’d be ideal!
http://athens.patch.com/listings/add-drug-store-inc
[...Oh, the happy childhood memories of heading up to Five Points on my bike (a turquoise beauty w/ floral banana seat, U handlebars, and a plastic flowers adorned white “wicker” basket!) w/ my friends to spend our allowances! We had it made--there were also two convenience stores for getting our comic books and candy fixes, as well as another pharmacy w/ ice cream too! (I mastered at an early age how to get maximum bang out of a buck!)]
Daisy- I agree with you. If they offered 100′s of interesting bottled sodas that aren’t Coke or Pepsi, that is something no one else is doing – Greene’s Soda Bar. And I think growlers, although cool, are kinda trendy.
LOVE this idea! Blenheim Ginger Ale and Budwine, please! :0)
Nobody else said it, so I just have to: Candy’s dandy, but liquor’s quicker.
Sorry, but Michael Hunter took that already – look at the posting above.
I will be interested in Green’s package store on Ponce’s reaction to this. Seems like a case of brand confusion.
I’m with whoever stated above that the adults will likely hit Greene’s for their wine/beer after the tween set has headed home for supper. And I agree, as well, that there’s nothing wrong with having kids in a friendly, inviting space that happens to sell alcohol. My 3-year old LOVES going with us to what he calls the “Beer Stores” (a/k/a Beer Growler or Ale Yeah), which are certainly not kid-leaning – but the staff members are always cool with it. I would think Greene’s would bend over backward to keep their littlest patrons comfortable.
This is absolutely wonderful news. We wish you much success and we will be there to support you!
What is “growler?”
I think it’s basically a pitcher of draft beer to go.