5 points? Underground (Atlanta: unemployed, camp, live in)

[Atlantasfinest]

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

I thought everyone knew where MurdaKroga was?? Is this a serious question?

Yes It was a serious question...I used to live down the street from this Kroger for 4 years and I just thought it was called Disco Kroger...no harm no foul.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Oh, they were plenty busy- unfortunately, the customers just didn't feel the need to pay for what they were shopping for. When the store closed, there was a thread on here with a link to an article in which Kroger stated that they were closing the store due to an unacceptable level of shrinkage.

Shrinkage will only get worse in many places. theif is becoming an acceptable crime. And store owners are not allowed to take action against theives.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Nah, Disco Kroger is the one on Piedmont in Buckhead so named because it was next door to this club named The Limelight.

This brings up a good point while we're talking about the various Krogers.... In Downtown, Southwest Atlanta, and the rest of the West Side south of Collier Road there are 0 Publix grocery stores, 2 Krogers (one at Greenbriar and one on Cascade Rd, both on the outskirts of the city), 0 Whole Foods, 0 Trader Joes, 0 Harry's. Yet, this part of the city has the most residents likely to not own or drive a car. Something very fishy is going on and it stinks to high heavens. I wish I had enough money to open up my own chain of grocery stores to fill such a huge gap. And before anyone says anything about Atlanta's "backwardness", this is a phenomenon that can be see in cities across the country from Chicago to St. Louis to NYC to Los Angeles as heard in this NPR report.

Publix & Whole Food go where REAL money is. I dont think Whole Foods takes WIC or EBT cards. Publix used to...not sure if they still do. Nothing fishy about those stores have an image and an instore presentation to maintain. Certain shoppers have a reputation of trashing stores, which why Kroger, Wayfield & Wal Mart are always so dirty and things out of place...its not the store employees its the clients.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Why is it that way? Money in SW Atlanta spends just like money anywhere else and everybody has to eat.

You sort of hit the nail on the head as to what the real problem is: Money. Over the last decade or so, national food chains have gobbled up the smaller competition and simultaneously (and systematically) divested from neighborhoods in big cities with lower income.

I wish there was a study done for the City of Atlanta like the one here (http://maureenlinke.com/2010/07/13/food-deserts-make-healthy-eating-out-of-reach/ - broken link) for D.C. I'll leave it up to you to read it as we're starting to get into OT territory, but basically the study looked at the 8 wards of the District of Columbia and categorized them by average household income then correlated that to the number of full service grocery stores offering healthier eating options and the obesity rate. Unsurprisingly (though knowing this should shock you), Ward 3 had the highest average household income (120K) and also had the highest number of full service grocery stores (11), while Ward 3 had the lowest household income (29k) and the second lowest amount of full service grocery stores (3) and likewise had the highest obesity rate.

In Atlanta a similar pattern is forming. As the full service grocery store options have dwindled in the West and Southwest side plus Downtown, those who have the means have to travel outside of their neighborhood to get access to healthy food but most do not and are stuck with going to the corner stores. Sometimes those stores offer good food choices, but many times they do not. I understand the economic realities at play in the decision making of grocery store chains, but it's an absolute shame when you compare that with the situation in other locations in the city.

On Peachtree Street through Buckhead you get the starkest view of that as there is a grocery store every couple of blocks. Literally. Starting at Brookwood there is a Kroger, then a Fresh Market right after Piedmont Hospital, a Publix at Peachtree Battle, another Publix 8 blocks up near Pharr road, a Trader Joes near Piedmont, a Whole Foods on Piedmont, a Kroger at Piedmont Road, another Publix across from Phipps, and another Kroger in Brookhaven. I'd like to hear the execs at any of these grocery store chains sit down and explain to me why there are 9 grocery stores along one 5 mile stretch of road in one part of the city, yet only one company can even bother open just 3 stores in another part of the city with well known lower quality and not strategically placed for the more pedestrian oriented residents of the area.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Why is it that way? Money in SW Atlanta spends just like money anywhere else and everybody has to eat.

Shrinkage. No one with a good reputation wants or needs the clientl. Those stores dont want to take the bad that come with setting up in those types of places. Crooks do dirt where they can blend in. Its harder for criminals to blend in in places like Buckhead or Cobb County. In SW Atl its easy as pie for criminals to blend in because they look like everyone else there.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

Publix & Whole Food go where REAL money is. I dont think Whole Foods takes WIC or EBT cards. Publix used to...not sure if they still do.

Whole Foods does not accept WIC as WIC does not consider organic food eligible for the program (how about that mess?). Publix does accept WIC at all of it's stores.

Originally Posted by FlyiMetro

Nothing fishy about those stores have an image and an instore presentation to maintain.

Certain shoppers have a reputation of trashing stores, which why Kroger, Wayfield & Wal Mart are always so dirty and things out of place...its not the store employees its the clients.

Well that to me is a sorry excuse to not offer healthy food options to the clientèle who will pay for them. If you have a problem with people stealing food, hire more security. And besides, as I mentioned before, that hasn't kept Kroger from keeping Murder Kroger open. That store probably sees more theft in one day than the Publix on MLK did in a month. Grocery stores for the most part stopped being about feeding people a long time ago and became more about making the most $$$.

[BringBackCobain]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Well that to me is a sorry excuse to not offer healthy food options to the clientèle who will pay for them. If you have a problem with people stealing food, hire more security. And besides, as I mentioned before, that hasn't kept Kroger from keeping Murder Kroger open. That store probably sees more theft in one day than the Publix on MLK did in a month. Grocery stores for the most part stopped being about feeding people a long time ago and became more about making the most $$$.

Grocery stores were never "about feeding people" - that is only what their business is. Grocery stores aren't charities, they are businesses. The purpose of a business is to make money. If the store can't make money in SW Atlanta, then it has no obligation to conduct business down there. I am sure the chains are aware of how those areas are, which is why they won't open up stores there.

You say hire more security, but that cuts into the store's profit, which is already dwindling because of the insane amount of shrinkage. How about the residents of SW Atlanta change the way their culture views criminals and the thug lifestyle, and maybe people will start paying for their food?

Ponce Kroger, while it does have sketchy clientele, 50% of the shoppers are normal people who live in the gentrifying areas around there. There is no comparable demographic in SW Atlanta or MLK.

If any Kroger was to open downtown, it would need to either be practically on GA State's campus or near Centennial Olympic Park. Both of those areas might have enough non-thugs to balance things out. But still, I think we are about 10 years away from that, since there are just not enough residents and students down there yet to give Kroger the needed incentive.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

You sort of hit the nail on the head as to what the real problem is: Money. Over the last decade or so, national food chains have gobbled up the smaller competition and simultaneously (and systematically) divested from neighborhoods in big cities with lower income.

Very interesting and thanks for the information. How's the Kroger down on Cleveland Avenue doing? The last time I went in there it looked pretty nice.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Whole Foods does not accept WIC as WIC does not consider organic food eligible for the program (how about that mess?). Publix does accept WIC at all of it's stores.



Well that to me is a sorry excuse to not offer healthy food options to the clientèle who will pay for them. If you have a problem with people stealing food, hire more security. And besides, as I mentioned before, that hasn't kept Kroger from keeping Murder Kroger open. That store probably sees more theft in one day than the Publix on MLK did in a month. Grocery stores for the most part stopped being about feeding people a long time ago and became more about making the most $$$.

I hear ya man. Life Aint far but firms must protect their investments, image & employees. I dont fault them from doing so

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Whole Foods does not accept WIC as WIC does not consider organic food eligible for the program (how about that mess?). Publix does accept WIC at all of it's stores.

How does that WIC thing work, by the way? I know a young man in his early 30s who's getting two food cards. He's got two kids out of wedlock and every month the government charges his cards up with another $750. They're debit cards basically -- he just swipes them at the cashier like anyone else. He could work but he's just not into it. Yet he's getting more on groceries than we spend a month. He gets a number of other very nice government freebies, too. His mother actually takes care of the kids.

I don't understand it. (Sorry to veer off topic).