Rumor of a Decatur Location as First Atlanta Sprouts Farmer’s Market Locations are Announced
Decatur Metro | January 6, 2014 | 11:55 am
Remember last year when we discussed the idea of Sprouts Farmer’s Market coming to Decatur?
Well, this morning Tomorrow’s News Today reports this morning that Sprouts has confirmed five Atlanta metro locations. They include Snellville, Norcoss, Dunwoody, Cumming and John’s Creek. As for Decatur, TNT writes this…
Sprouts is also rumored to be involved in a Fuqua Development planned project in Kennesaw, as well as a Cousins project in Decatur.
The “Cousin’s project” is obviously the pending redevelopment of the Callaway building along Trinity Ave between Commerce and S. McDonough, which the city has facilitated over the past year.
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Within shouting distance of YDFM and against 2 local weekly markets? Seems unlikely.
I think it could hold its own if they’re smart about it. Sprouts is more Whole Foods than an actual “farmer’s market”… and YDFM is in a class of its own.
I actually see it competing against the baby Kroger if anything. (at least for folks like me who live immediately downtown and can walk everywhere). I hate going to baby Kroger because their selection sucks, and I imagine I’d be more likely to hit up a Sprouts (at least from what I’ve seen at other Sprouts stores).
I’m always intrigued by the “Baby Kroger sucks because of their selection” statements. I shop there quite a bit, so I am familiar with what they do and do not carry. And I’m always impressed with what they have in stock for such a small store. To me, it’s a perfect complement to the larger (but further away) grocery stores.
I think it’s a matter of familiarity and setting expectations. The more you shop there, the better prepared you are for determining if the store meets your needs at the time.
Exactly. I don’t expect Baby Kroger be as stocked as its full-sized counterparts, and I’ve always managed to find what I need there when I’m in a hurry. I’m glad it’s there!
Unless you are trying to buy something as esoteric as tofu. Don’t get me wrong, I stop at Baby Kroger multiple times a week. I love having a small store close to home. And even when the line looks long, it moves FAST. But as SMBSLT says, I know what to expect when I walk in, so I’m generally not disappointed. However, the idea of Sprouts here in downtown, until DHer spoke up with a voice of reason, made my day. Good cheese, good bread, and TOFU within walking distance? Dream come true.
+1
+1. Based on what I know about Sprouts, they would probably get at least some of my Kroger business, if it is a reasonable walk. But the baby Kroger has lots of things that stores like Whole Foods simply don’t carry.
Does every store really need to stock 25 kinds of cereal and 10 brands of toilet paper? I like the small store because I can get in, find what I need, and get out in 10 minutes, without having to travel down 10 aisles first.
A challenge to be sure but keep in mind that, by the time this opens (if it does), we’ll have multiple hundreds of new apartments downtown which, I’m expecting, will be marketed heavily on their promise of a car-free or car-light lifestyle. These will be exactly the people who, while they might appreciate the extra variety of the weekly farmer’s markets, will be more motivated by walkable options that offer goods whenever it is that people want or are able to shop.
YDFM and some of the other supermarkets will continue to provide good car-friendly options (in terms of both location and the need to fit a big haul in your car) but it seems clear to me that the Sprouts folks aren’t looking at present patterns of consumption. They’re betting on future patterns.
There are still some few people living in Decatur who have to think about prices when they shop. For us, I doubt Sprouts will be an option. From the website, it looks like Whole Foods — appealing products, but at a hefty price. Little Kroger’s selection may be limited, but its prices are no higher than they are in the larger stores.
No argument on that reality, though I don’t know nearly enough about Sprouts to say either way. I was just referring to what might be their intent with a downtown location.
I moved from Decatur to a town with Decatur-like demographics in Arizona a few months ago. I do most of my grocery shopping at Sprouts there because their prices on produce and eggs are the cheapest in town. Packaged goods are mostly more expensive, but not always. Cheese is better quality and slightly more expensive. Alaskan salmon is inexplicably cheap at the Sprouts in my landlocked town of 60,000.
I’d say Sprouts shares much more with Trader Joe’s than it does Whole Foods. I think it would do quite well in Decatur.
Exactly Scott. More density should lead to more options. While I love YDFM, I’d much rather walk or ride my bike to Sprouts even though it will cost more than YDFM.
As a wise man once said (and I’m sure has been quoted on here previously): Density keeps the donuts fresher.
You may be right about them looking at the future apartment dwellers as customers, but I wonder how much they factor in median income within a certain radius? Though home values are high here, median income doesn’t necessarily correspond.
Do they offer benefits for their employees? I could leave YDFM forever if I could get reasonably priced fresh, diverse stuff somewhere without the guilt.
You would be better off shopping at Walmart than YDFM in terms of supporting an employer that exploits its workforce.
I’m not sure I know the facts behind this statement. I shop at YDFM because they have good produce at at good price. If there are fair wages issues I would sure like to know and that would affect my shopping habits. Can you add background here?
You can find what I think is a very even handed article that Thomas Wheatley did for Creative Loafing in 2012. The owner does not offer healthcare for employees – it would not be a stretch to say that almost all of the women who work there must receive public assistance during pregnancy and childbirth, that their children are on PeachCare until the age of 18.
While not covered in that article, I don’t believe, Mr. Blazer has also reportedly said he would rather pay the penalty than offer insurance under the ACA.
So I feel that I am subsidizing his profit margin as a DeKalb county, and state of Georgia, citizen even when I don’t shop there.
They also will not allow volunteer organizations to approach, through YDFM, their employees for the purposes of, for example, offering English classes. Or so I’ve been told.
Another Cousins development is Emory Point. They have been working very hard to land a grocery store for Phase 2 which is under construction. An announcement for Emory Point is much more likely than for a site where not a spec of dirt has moved. Most of the Sprouts locations were site specific, but “Decatur’s” was vague. It might not be Callaway.
That’s a good point.
Ah…could see that happening for sure.
I thought Sprouts was previously mentioned with the redevelopment of the church site on N. Decatur, between Scott and Church? Is that project still on?
Yes but that project is a Fuqua development.