Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ingles Sees No Advantage to Staying Open in Tucker

Ingles Markets is closing its Tucker location. 

Ingles, located at 4400 Hugh Howell Road in Tucker will discontinue operations as of this coming Saturday, July 5th. The Ingles store is located in Tucker Station Shopping Center at the corner of Hugh Howell Road and Lawrenceville Highway.   The Ingles store has been a neighborhood staple for years, but has struggled amidst competition from newer and nicer nearby stores such as Kroger and Publix, not to mention Walmart.

Publix opened at The Centre on Hugh Howell in 1996, while both Kroger and Walmart opened in 1999 at the then new Cofer Crossing shopping center around the corner from Ingles on Lawrenceville Highway.  The Kroger opening, while technically a relocation, marked the chain's 100th store in Georgia.  

While it's definitely sad to see Ingles close, the writing had been on the wall for years. Surprisingly, Ingles did have a way to get me to drive out of my way and to their store. Post Waffle Crisp is not stocked in many local grocery stores, and this Ingles was the closest grocery store that I found carrying Waffle Crisp.   

Ingles had been operating with short hours for the past few days, and is not currently honoring any of the chain's advertised prices.  A representative at the store told me that perishable items are currently reduced in price, but that non-perishables/dry goods will not be reduced and are instead being transferred to another store.  

Ingles Markets (NASDAQ: IMKTA) is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, and operates about 200 locations in six southern states.  The first Ingles opened in Asheville in 1963.  After the Tucker closure, Georgia will remain  home to the most locations with 74, while North Carolina is a close second at 63.  Alabama has just one location. Ingles stores in Georgia are concentrated in smaller markets like Bremen, Jasper and Winder.  

I can recall at least one other Ingles closure in the past, which was on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road in Suwanee.  This Ingles was far larger, newer and nicer than the Tucker store, but closed a few years ago and is today operated by Super H Mart.  

Could this closure open the door to an expanding specialty retailer like Sprouts Farmers Market or Earth Fare?  What would you like to see happen to Tucker Station?  Will the Captain D's be the next to close?  Please share your thoughts below.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ingels also closed its location on Highway 92 in Woodstock last year.

Anonymous said...

Ingles also closed on Bells Ferry and Highway 92 in Acworth several years ago now. It now operates as a Food Depot. This is separate from the Highway 92 store in Woodstock, which as mentioned prior, also closed.

Anonymous said...

Quite frankly, I don't see how Ingles can remain open anywhere, except perhaps in very isolated rural areas where there is no competition from Kroger/Publix/Walmart.

Anonymous said...

There was also an Ingles in Alpharetta in the Big Lots shopping center that shut its doors a few years back. I believe an antiques store is in the Ingles spot today.

Anonymous said...

Ingles ONLY thrives in rural areas, witness how they die as Atlanta sprawls ever outward.

Anonymous said...

INGLES is still open on Rockbridge at Hairston in Stone Mountain.

Anonymous said...

Still open as well in Peachtree Corners/Norcross right across from where the new Sprouts is and a few blocks away from where the new Fresh (whatever) is going to go. I have been to this store and although its very clean and well run it seems very dead and on a death watch.

M said...

I definitely will agree with u on that. I'm surprised that this store didn't close ages ago. The store is lifeless and too expensive.

Anonymous said...

Tucker is wrong demographic for Earth Fare or Sprouts. Something much more downscale will go there, I suspect.

vespajet said...

The Ingles at the corner of Hairston and Rockbridge has been closed for several years now (much like the Super Target that was done the street, done in by Walmart.). That entire shopping center is dead, as the last holdout was (IIRC) a Chinese place that finally closed last year. The Ingles at the corner of Rockbridge and Lilburn-Stone Mountain is still open. I honestly thought when Kroger relocated to Rockbridge and Five Forks Trickum that the Ingles was done for. They still do decent business as it is bit easier to get in and out of than the Kroger/

Anonymous said...

The Ingles in Union City closed when the adjacent Walmart relocated across the street and became a Super Walmart. Union City in general continues to decline, of course. That Walmart may end up being the last development in that area and also the last retail standing when the dust settles.

Sew, Scrap, Make said...

Maybe it's because we are close to Asheville, but there are Ingles all over town here, that always seem busy. Even the one right across the street from Walmart

Anonymous said...

INGLES HAVE ALSO CLOSED IT'S DOOR AT THE CENTERVILLE HWY LOCATION ON JULY 5

Anonymous said...

The produce section at Ingles was a disgrace-good riddance. A Trader Joes would be great..

Anonymous said...

I would love if it a Trader Joe's would open there, but I don't see that happening.

Anonymous said...

Ingle's Markets owns the shopping center. I see one of two scenarios happening, (1) the entire shopping center will be demolished for a new store, which Ingle's is doing with closed locations, or (2) is selling the property.

If Ingle's is struggling in the Atlanta market, it faces strong competition with Kroger and Publix in North Carolina and South Carolina. Kroger is looking to enter upstate South Carolina.

Anonymous said...

Tucker needs to bulldoze a from Northlake Pkwy to Hugh Howell and rebuild it as a nicer, more accessible area. As long as all the auto shops & tire places are there, there will be no good growth.

Anonymous said...

I heard that the land on which the Ingles in Tucker is located was the previous home to a company that left contamination in the soil. It is very difficult to find a company to buy the shopping center now because of the expense involved in cleaning up the pollution to meet current EPA standards.

Anonymous said...

The Ingles shopping center in Tucker is on land that was contaminated by a previous company there. It's too expensive for another company to come in and clean up the pollution to satisfy current EPA standards.

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