Groceteria.com

News Article from Atlanta

The famously nicknamed "Disco Kroger" in Atlanta is scheduled to close on May 30th and the facility to be remodeled to Kroger's "fresh fare" concept and re-open later in 2008.


Partial text from http://www.ajc.com

Polly Perry,87 has been shopping at the "Disco Kroger" for as long as she can remember. News that the Buckhead grocery store, a fixture at the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont roads since the mid-1970s, is shutting its doors May 30 is not sitting well with Perry.

"What is my reaction? I'll tell you my reaction. I think it's just awful," the longtime patron — known to store employees simply as "Ms. Perry" — barked Friday as she picked up a 99-cent birthday card for her sister. "I'm sorry it's going to close. I'm going to miss it."

No doubt, longtime Atlantans and recent transplants alike feel Perry's pain.

Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. plans to renovate the store and reopen it in the fall under the new "Fresh Fare" upscale concept, the company confirmed this week. It will be Kroger's first such store in Georgia, Kroger spokesman Glynn Jenkins said.

Fresh Fare stores typically feature a wide selection of meats, cheeses, wine and prepared foods in a more gourmet-style setting.

No fluorescent lights. No 10-for-$10 sales.

"Don't we already have enough of that kind of stuff around here?" asked Roger Potts, a 45-year-old hairstylist who stops by the store at least once a week.

Valeri Burton , 50, of Buckhead remembers Limelight, Rupert's and Atlanta Live, former neighbors in the shopping center that helped Disco Kroger earn its name.

"I can't believe it's closing," she said Friday. "It's a legend."

I would post the URL for the article but it would most likely expire in days and normally you have to log into the AJC site to read articles.

I remember this store had been extensively remodeled over the years as the area has also been well developed. So there really isn't much to worry about getting photos of the location. But if I do make it to the area within the next month. I'll get something. I don't live in ATL but I will have a reason to be there in a few weeks.

Without knowing better, I'd think the "Disco Kroger" was some perfectly-preserved '70s superstore with pergola frames over the produce, shake siding and orange windows over the deli, and danceable R&B/funk music pumping out of the speakers overhead. I wish...

In all seriousness, the "Disco Kroger" got its nickname from the discos that once occupied the shopping center in which it resides. (This spherical detail is a nice touch as well.) Here's another article I dug up, which notes that it originally opened in September 1976.

Although the store looks to have already been remodeled beyond recognition, I'm a bit sorry to see it go myself. It's nice to see a store arouse so much passion in a community.

Thanks for linking that photo! It never would have crossed my mind that they would actually have a disco ball IN the store. A great symbol of the store's legacy in the neighborhood.

I have never been inside that store although I have a favorate restaurant on that corner that I have been to several times over the past decade. I do remember the store's exterior before the remodeling(s) occured in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

They HAVE to preserve and install that disco ball in the new store!

The Disco Kroger had a major makeover in 2004. It reportedly cost something like $6 million. If that was a true figure, a lot of it must have gone into HVAC and the like, because the changes to the interior weren't very drastic. The merchandise mix was generically Kroger (as had been the case in the past), with some "Signature store" touches. The store faces stiff competition from at least two Publix stores (with others within a couple miles) and a new Whole Foods; its merchandising is a little out of step with the upscale neighborhood. The store must not have been doing so well after its last makeover to warrant such radical changes so soon. I wonder if they'll alienate their base and whether they'll be able to capture more upscale customers. The Signature store prototype near where I used to live (at Edgewood) seemed to be rather unsuccessful (the upscale produce went ignored as did the pathetic selection of prepared foods). It received some tweaking in light of that. Buckhead is more upscale than Edgewood (which is gentrifying, but will never be truly affluent), but I've never seen a Kroger that could match what Ralphs has done with Fresh Fare, usually in small stores located in very high end neighborhoods. Those West Coast stores have extensive fresh foods selections, an area where Kroger generally has been weak and played defense. The scale of the Disco Kroger (which is huge) and Kroger's weak fresh food operations in Atlanta make me a pessimist.

Maybe it had another remodeling sometime between 1999 and 2004, because when I lived down there in late '90s that store was vintage seventies. Orange, baby. I loved it. When I ran in there a few years ago...boringly beige. I was so disappointed.