Publix Super Markets plans to close its small format store at The Prado in Sandy Springs. The 28,800 square foot store is located along Roswell Road and opened as part of the center's redevelopment in late 2008. The grocer is the second junior anchor to close in the center following the late 2014 closure of Staples. (The Staples store has subsequently sporadically been home to various random furniture/mattress/holiday stores.) Signs posted on the grocer's doors indicate that they will close at 5PM on Saturday, December 29. There are reportedly no immediate plans for a new tenant in the space.
Primary anchor Target remains in place as does fellow anchor Life Time Athletic, which opened in the center in space previously earmarked for a Home Depot store. Many restaurants in the center have also come and gone, or in the case of Bruegger's Bagels, simply never opened. Most recently, Barberitos, a quick-serve burrito eatery, closed in the project, while Iron Age, a Korean barbecue eatery, opened in the former Kobe Steaks space.
The biggest challenge for the grocer, or anyone who might take the space the Publix will soon vacate, is the deck parking with basically zero "up-front" parking for would-be grocery customers. Target has a spacious parking lot on the top level of the deck, but Publix had to rely on parking in the deck which was situated not below or in front of the grocer but across a side street, instead.
While Publix store closures are rare, they have happened a few times over the years in metro Atlanta. Publix previously closed stores in Atlanta at Historic Westside Village (2009), Roswell at Roswell Village (2005), in Brookhaven at Northeast Plaza, in Lilburn at Killian Hill Village, in Woodstock at the Shops at Town Lake (2009), in Hampton at Lovejoy Station (2015), and in McDonough at McDonough West Plaza.
The Atlanta store was subsequently demolished and replaced by a Walmart Supercenter. After sitting vacant for over the decade, the former Roswell Publix and the entire center is undergoing an extensive renovation that will bring ROSS and Marshalls to the former Publix space and other new tenants to the complex. The Brookhaven store is today occupied by City Farmers Market, while the Lilburn store is occupied by Burlington. The Woodstock store was for a time occupied by a Tuesday Morning, after which the retailer relocated to accommodate a Sprouts Farmers Market that opened in 2017. The Hampton Publix reopened in 2016 as a Food Depot, while the McDonough Publix was backfilled by a Goodwill store & donation center as well as a Planet Fitness.
The former Woodstock and Atlanta stores, like the store closing in Sandy Springs, and remaining stores in Lenox Marketplace in Buckhead, Cheshire Square in Atlanta, and Shallowford Exchange near Chamblee, are all small format stores, each less than 30,000 square feet. The stores were developed in the early-to-mid 2000s.
More recently, Publix has adopted a pretty standard approach to stores with basically all new stores in metro Atlanta measuring 45,600 square feet.
This size applies to the recently opened Publix stores in Jonquil in Smyrna, Moores Mill in Atlanta, Dawson Crossroads in Dawsonville, and to the upcoming store at Madison Yards along Memorial Drive in Reynoldstown.
The one exception to the grocer's store roll-out is with their recently reintroduced "Publix GreenWise" store banner. ToNeTo Atlanta reported this past June that Publix plans to open a new GreenWise store in East Cobb which real estate sources indicate will be about 25,000 square feet. A Publix press release in September announcing the store's planned opening confirmed its location but did not specify an exact size.
Patrons of the Publix at The Prado are encouraged to patronize other nearby Publix stores such as those at Chastain Square on Roswell Road in North Buckhead, Publix at Perimeter on Hammond Drive at Peachtree Dunwoody Road, and the Publix at Abernathy Square on Roswell and Abernathy Roads.
Are you surprised that Publix is closing their store at The Prado in Sandy Springs? What would you like to see open in place of the Publix at The Prado? Where do you do your primary grocery shopping?
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