[ALERT] Publix To Shutter Small Store on Shallowford Road in Chamblee

After getting confirmation late Monday that Publix plans to close their twenty year old store at Atlantic Station, we have now also confirmed that the company plans to close their 23 year old store at Shallowford Exchange (2562 Shallowford Road) in Chamblee, too. 

Publix opened the small format store (#800) January 10, 2002.  The store measures 28,800 square feet, small by both prior and current Publix store standards, was one of the brands "27M" prototype models.  The Atlantic Station store is 30,312 square feet while most current Publix stores measure at least 48,387 square feet.  

The Shallowford Exchange store was one of several in metro Atlanta to open around the same time and be about the same size.  A store that was exactly the same size previously closed at the Shops at Buckhead in Woodstock and is today occupied by a Sprouts Farmers Market. Another 28,800 square foot store closed in Sandy Springs at The Prado at the end of 2018 and is today home to Life Time Work.    

An identically sized store that anchors Cheshire Square at the edge of Brookhaven remains open.  Publix also operates a pair of similarly sized stores in Buckhead at The Block at Phipps (formerly Lenox Marketplace) and West Paces Ferry Shopping Center, both of which serve dynamic and densely populated areas likely insulating them from the danger of closing.  

Unlike rival Kroger, which has seemingly been closing more stores than it's opened or planning to open, Publix has for the most part continued to both add new stores and replace older stores with new, larger stores nearby.    

Most Publix stores of today are, like Kroger, bigger than they were 20 years ago.  Publix has added far more prepared food departments and other enhancements to its stores, with most now measuring at least 48,387 square feet and some, like the so-called "Clublix" store in Buckhead, measuring 54,965 square feet.

Interestingly, an example of the grocer replacing an older store with a smaller Publix actually occurred in nearby Tucker, where the grocer replaced their 56,146 square foot store at The Centre on Hugh Howell with a new 48,300 square foot store at Hugh Howell Marketplace in February 2022.  

For its part, Kroger earlier this year closed four stores in metro Atlanta, including those in Atlanta near the Lindbergh MARTA station, Clairmont Road in Brookhaven, Memorial Drive in Decatur, and Douglas Road in Alpharetta.  

Publix's planned closure follows the closure this past January of the Regal Cinemas Hollywood 24.  The theater first opened in 1999 and occupied a 37 acre property along the northeast expressway between Shallowford Road and Chamblee Tucker Road.  

Following its closure on December 27, the next closest Publix will be the 43,454 square foot store at Briarcliff Village (2162 Henderson Mill Road) near Northlake Mall, 2.8 miles away, and the 41,004 square foot Publix at Chamblee Plaza (5534 Peachtree Boulevard), 3.7 miles away.  

Are you surprised to see Publix close its store at Shallowford Exchange?  Where do you do the majority of your grocery shopping?  What would you most like to see replace Publix when it closes?

Please share your thoughts below.