Historic Westside Village Publix to close, community on edge
After Christmas Eve, west Atlanta residents will lose their only grocery store
If you live in Virginia-Highland or Midtown, it’s easy to take your grocery store for granted.
You’ve got Trader Joe’s on Monroe Drive. Whole Foods is across the street from City Hall East. Don’t want to go to the Publix on Ponce de Leon Avenue? You can visit the grocer’s other location at North Avenue and Piedmont Drive.
But if you live in historically under-invested west and southwest Atlanta, a place to buy fresh fruit, milk, bread, or even toilet paper can be a luxury. One that Vine City, Washington Park and other west Atlanta neighborhoods residents — many of whom are seniors or lack reliable transportation to buy the daily necessities — fear they’re about to lose.
After seven and half years, the Publix on Martin Luther King Drive is scheduled to shut down. When exactly? Christmas Eve at 7 p.m.