Many Residents of This Atlanta Neighborhood Don’t Shop at This Grocery Store—So Why Are They Rallying To Save it?

Last month, residents of a neighborhood in northwest Atlanta, GA rallied against plans led by a local developer to replace a Buy Low grocery store with a self-storage facility. 

The Buy Low, off James Jackson Parkway, has been around for decades—though some who attended the rally say they don’t shop there themselves. 

“Fortunately for me, I have transportation, so I can go to any supermarket that's close by,” says JoAnna Powell, a long-time resident of the area. “I don't shop there, unless it's something last minute that I need.” 

But for elderly residents and those without reliable transportation, the Buy Low isn't optional—it's the only grocery store they can reach. So what should replace it, if anything: another supermarket, or, as residents put it, another self-storage facility the area doesn't need?

The pitch: storage instead of groceries

Torrey Sumlin is the chair of NPU-G, the area’s citizen-led advisory council that gives local residents a formal voice in city planning. It encompasses the neighborhoods of Almond Park, Collier Heights, and Brookview Heights, as well as the 800 block of James Jackson Parkway. Sumlin has lived in the neighborhood since 1989 and says the Buy Low was there when he moved in.

The store's owners want to stay put, Sumlin says, but the property underneath them has been quietly for sale.

"From what I have gathered, the property owners ... want to sell the property," Sumlin says. "The owners of the grocery store, from my research and speaking with them, they want to stay there, but it's been on the table for sale."

Sumlin says that NPU-G has been in touch with the prospective buyer, who reportedly told him that there wouldn't be space for a national-chain grocery store such as Kroger or Publix. Instead, he's looking to develop a self-storage facility.

But residents say the neighborhood already has plenty of storage space.

"There are four that are already within a 5-mile radius," says Powell. "I don't think it makes sense to have another storage facility in the vicinity."

It would seem the city of Atlanta agrees: On July 6, the Atlanta City Council approved a 180-day moratorium on new self-storage facility construction. But Sumlin says that District 9 Councilmember Dustin Hillis confirmed to him that this project was green-lit ahead of the moratorium and could still proceed. (Mr. Hillis' office says he was unavailable to respond to a request for comment from Realtor.com®.)

A neighborhood that's changed even if the grocery store hasn't

Powell describes a community that looks different than it did when NPU-G's boundaries were first drawn.

"The majority of people who came out to the rally, they are professionals," she says. "You have lawyers, doctors, even military people who make up these communities now ... because our income has increased, we desire to have different things."

She calls the area "the last affordable side of Atlanta"—which is part of why those newer residents are moving in. But people at all income levels came out in support of the “Food over storage” rally because, Powell notes, everyone recognizes what it would mean to lose this area’s singular grocery store.  

"For the majority of those people who reside right in the [Buy Low] area, they don't have transportation," Powell says. "It would definitely be a burden for them to try to either get an Uber or even lug the groceries back on a MARTA bus."

Even for those who do rely on it, though, Buy Low isn't fully meeting the community's needs. Powell says the store already isn't accessible to everyone who might use it, including people with disabilities. As a result, those with the ability to do so are leaving the neighborhood to shop, and taking their money with them.

Sumlin, along with NPU-G's neighborhood associations, is trying to quantify that loss, too—working with Emory University on a feasibility study measuring how many grocery dollars are currently leaving the community altogether, headed to stores in Cobb County and elsewhere.

What residents actually want

NPU-G's position isn't "save Buy Low as is." Sumlin says the group wants the store to better serve the neighborhood—more ADA accessibility, updated offerings—or, failing that, to be replaced by another grocer that will. He points to Wayfield Foods as one model the group has looked at: a chain that has moved into other Atlanta neighborhoods' existing grocery footprints rather than building from scratch.

"We want to save the structure. We want to save the footprint of the grocery store," Sumlin says. "If not Buy Low, then we need to get somebody else to come in."

Powell says the community isn't waiting passively on the outcome, either. "We, as a community, have something that we are planning," she says, "depending on the actions of the owner of Buy Low"—including what happens if the current sale contract falls through.

What comes next?

The identity of the project's backers has been difficult to pin down. Extra Space Storage was originally linked to the project, but confirmed in an email to Realtor.com that they were not associated with this location.

"At one point, the ownership group exploring the project considered Extra Space Storage as a potential third-party management company. However, no agreements were ever signed, and Extra Space Storage has had no other involvement with the project," a representative of the company wrote.

Realtor.com also reached out to Broward Development, the firm identified by community leaders as the developer behind the proposal. Brandon Weiner, the company's vice president of acquisitions and development, declined to comment when reached by phone.

But as of this week, the project appears to have stalled, perhaps due in part to the resistance offered up the community and NPU-G. Baxter Russell, a land-use and zoning attorney representing the applicant, told Realtor.com by phone that the application has been withdrawn and is not on the city's Zoning Review Board agenda. A review of the board's Aug. 6 agenda confirms no case tied to the James Jackson Parkway property appears scheduled for consideration. Russell declined to comment further on the applicant or the reason for the withdrawal.

Asked to confirm whether the withdrawal means the redevelopment is off the table entirely, Russell said only, "Not at this time"—leaving open the possibility that a revised application could resurface later.

For now, though, the outcome residents rallied for last month appears to have happened: The Buy Low is staying, at least for the moment.

What comes next—for the store, and for the neighborhood pushing it to do better by the people who depend on it—is still an open question.