A downtown Walgreens considered an economic bright spot and crucial resource for downtown dwellers closed permanently in April 2024, despite a petition drive that gathered nearly 800 signatures asking the chain to stay.
The store, which had operated for seven years in the remade, historic Olympia Building at 25 Peachtree Street, shut its doors April 9. Customers were directed to fill prescriptions at other Walgreens locations, and all employees at the Peachtree Street store were offered jobs at nearby locations, the company said. In a statement to Urbanize Atlanta, Walgreens cited "existing footprint of stores, dynamics of the local market, and changes in the buying habits of our patients and customers" among the factors behind the closure -- part of a broader national pullback in which the chain had pledged to cut $1 billion in costs and close stores and clinics under new leadership.
When rumors of the closure first swirled the year before, an online Change.org petition framed the store as an essential asset for Georgia State University's thousands of students and downtown residents overall. "I live downtown, and with no grocery store, this store is crucial," one signee wrote. "Closing this would be a step in the wrong direction for the type of downtown residents want." Another, identifying as a GSU student, put it more simply: "we need this."
The loss stings partly because of what the space represents. Topped with an iconic circular Coca-Cola sign, the two-story Olympia Building underwent a full renovation finished in 2016 that restored its Art Deco character -- a complex project that gutted the interior down to stone walls braced by steel beams, revealing that while the façade dates to the 1930s, the building's bones are actually much older, from the 1800s. Before Walgreens moved in, the building had sat largely vacant for years at the edge of Woodruff Park -- and as of the closure, the question of what comes next was open again.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published March 2024.
