Kroger announced Friday it plans to close two locations — "Baby Kroger" at 720 Commerce Drive in Decatur and "Disco Kroger" at 3330 Piedmont Road in Buckhead. The Decatur location, which has been open for 21 years, will close as of December 2. The Piedmont Road store, which has been in business 47 years, will close December 9 according to the press release.
The "Baby" Kroger, which measured less than 15,000 square feet, was the grocer's smallest store in the market. Kroger has previously closed small format stores downtown near the state Capital, along Peachtree Road in South Buckhead, and on North Decatur Road in Emory Village, among others.
The Buckhead store's lease expires in 2023. ToNeTo Atlanta reported in July 2021 that its space is slated to be demolished and rebuilt as a new Publix store. The center, Piedmont Peachtree Crossing, was recently rebranded "Buckhead Landing," to coincide with new enhancements, tenants and its new anchor.
“All 59 associates at the Commerce Drive location and all 84 associates at the Piedmont Road location will be reassigned to other Kroger locations as outlined in the company’s collective bargaining agreement,” said Victor Smith, president of Kroger’s Atlanta Division.
Liquidation sales at the affected stores are slated to begin in the coming days.
Kroger also Friday announced it plans to merge with rival grocer Albertsons in a deal valued at $24.6 billion. Cincinnati-based Kroger will, if the deal goes through as planned, include 47 banners operating about 5,000 stores in 48 states with a market capitalization of nearly $50 billion. According to a report by CNBC, the combined company would control about 16 percent of the U.S. grocery market by dollars spent, just below industry leader Walmart which controls nearly 21 percent.
Following the closures, Kroger will continue to operate more than 160 stores in Georgia. A new 90,000 square foot store was expected to open this fall along Powers Ferry Road near East Cobb, but its opening has been pushed to 2023. The new store will replace a roughly 45,000 square foot, circa 1983 Kroger at 1122 Powers Ferry Road, less than a mile away.
Are you surprised to see both the "Baby" and "Disco" Krogers close? What would you like to see in place of the "Baby" Kroger in Decatur? Where do you do the majority of your grocery shopping?
Please share your thoughts below.