UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

UrbanizeAtlNewsBot

Fresh grocery, a crucial downtown resource, set to open this week Josh Green Wed, 08/27/2025 - 16:07

A year and ½ after Walgreens’ closure rattled downtown Atlantans who depended on the retail chain for basic necessities, a unique and localized replacement is set to debut.

Come 2 p.m. Thursday, doors will open to the general public at Azalea Fresh Market, a municipal grocery store concept across the street from Woodruff Park described as the first of its kind.

The two-story grocery store—a public-private partnership between Savi Provisions, Invest Atlanta, and the City of Atlanta—will occupy the renovated, historic Olympia Building at 25 Peachtree St., where Walgreens shuttered in spring 2024. It also includes a kiosk featuring Decatur-based Dope Coffee. (Find a sneak peek inside here and here).

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, Invest Atlanta president and CEO Dr. Eloisa Klementich, and other dignitaries are scheduled to lead a ribbon-cutting for Azalea Fresh Market prior to the grand opening Thursday.

The concept came together through a collaboration between city officials, Savi Provisions, Independent Grocers Alliance, local organizations, and community members who pinpointed a need for fresh, healthy, and affordable food options downtown, per city officials. Today, 14 percent of Atlanta experiences food insecurity, and the grocery is one part of efforts to bring fresh food to low-access neighborhoods.

The Olympia Building’s remade Art Deco facade on Woodruff Park, prior to recent updates. Google Maps

After seven years in business, Walgreens’ closure left a void for downtown residents, workers, and thousands of Georgia State University students. A Change.org petition urging Walgreens to reconsider gathered nearly 800 signatures but didn’t succeed.

In a statement provided to Urbanize Atlanta at the time, Walgreens said several factors went into the difficult decision to close the location, including the company’s “existing footprint of stores, dynamics of the local market, and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers, among other reasons.”

Topped with an iconic, circular Coca-Cola sign, Walgreens’ two-story Olympia Building underwent a total renovation, finished in 2016, that restored its Art Deco appeal and marked a considerable investment by Walgreens.

Prior to recent renovations, the iconic, illuminated Coca-Cola sign is shown overlooking Woodruff Park from atop the former Walgreens. Google Maps

The complex project cleaved out the building’s full interior, leaving only the stone walls, braced by steel beams. It revealed clues that while the façade dates to the 1930s, the building’s bones are actually much older, dating to the 1800s.

Prior to Walgreens’ makeover, the building had been largely vacant for years, a retail sore spot at the edge of Woodruff Park. But such emptiness, come Thursday afternoon, will be history.

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