It was this past November when ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported that Whole Foods Market planned to close their popular Briarcliff store in 2019. We are now able to confirm that the store will close in late March or early April and will "move" to Midtown. The "move" you see is not a move at all, but merely the grocer attempting to save face by not calling it a closure, which it is.
The new Whole Foods in Midtown - opening in the street level of the new ICON Midtown apartment high-rise - has been pushed multiple times from an originally announced summer 2017 opening. Sources within Whole Foods now indicate that the store will open during the first week in April with the Briarcliff store expected to close a few days before. The Midtown store, referred to as a "flagship" location, will be more than 70,000 square feet over two levels, far larger than the roughly 27,000 square foot Briarcliff Road store.
A similar series of events played out in 2017 when Whole Foods-owned Harry's Farmers Market closed in Marietta near the Big Chicken ahead of its "move" about six miles north to the new Whole Foods Market near Kennesaw Mountain in Kennesaw.
The Briarcliff Whole Foods, like the Harry's, is about six miles from the store where it will "move." That said, the idea that neighbors accustomed to the convenience of a surface parking lot and small format store that is literally "around the corner" will make the "move" to the giant new store in a far more congested area where parking will be via a deck and travel may include highway driving, is preposterous.
Whole Foods surely hopes that existing customers of the Briarcliff store will patronize the new 365 by Whole Foods Market near Decatur.
However, ToNeTo Atlanta readers have blasted the grocer, now owned by Amazon, for the decision to close the Briarcliff store and made clear their feelings on the closure and their (un)willingness to travel to either of the new stores.
"What a strange, dumb choice by Whole Foods / Amazon. One wonders if they researched Atlanta traffic at all. This store is always busy and there's no way people are going to drive from here to 14th or N. Decatur -- those customers will all be lost."
"I'm NEVER going to drive from Druid Hills to Decatur for anything Whole Foods."
Other readers said of the closure, "Lame""This blows!" and "Bad move, Whole Foods."
As for the store itself, sources close to the grocer indicate it has been sold and that the future of the property is not yet certain. Local real estate sources suspect that the property will be redeveloped as some sort of residential development, likely multifamily.
The Briarcliff Whole Foods, by far the smallest of all the grocer's Atlanta area locations, was also the first in the state to open when it debuted in April 1999. The store, which measures 27,362 square feet, sits on just over three acres and is owned by Whole Foods Market Group, according to DeKalb County property records. The county values the site (land + building) at about $6.5 million.
Are you a Toco Hills area resident who will travel to the new Whole Foods in Midtown? Do you think Whole Foods is foolish to close their Briarcliff store? What would you like to see open in place of the Briarcliff Whole Foods?
Please share your thoughts below