Somebody Turned on the Lights!

They're closing Disco Kroger.

Okay, they took Buckhead and all the seedy clubs that gave Atlanta a nightlife and made it more of the international city it claims to be (note: International cities don't close at midnight). And then they came for midtown, with Trump this and Tower that, gentrifying the hell out of what gave the city it's character. Then the projects... okay, I'm kinda glad for that one. and now they come for the Disco. It is a sad three am in Atlanta.

When I first moved to Atlanta, Disco Kroger was my nearest grocery store, just off the corner of Piedmont and Peachtree. I was working for an internet startup and my hours were my own, so I could end up trolling the aisles at 3pm just as well as 3am any night of the week. It was interesting what you could see at Kroger at 4am. A lady in a evening gown getting cheese and eggs. Two punk rockers with Captain Crunch and milk. Two slacker looking dudes with a stack of frozen meals and juice. Three party girls - two of whom were drunk - with a passel of snack food. And a roast chicken.

Disco Kroger was the great equalizer. It didn't matter which club you had started at, you all ended up at Disco Kroger. Or Backstreet. I loved that store.

Reportedly they're going to be opening a new high end grocery there, kinda like Harry's used to be (if you don't remember Harry's it's complicated). Which is cool. Or would be if it didn't mean excising Disco Kroger.

Does this mean that Bones is in jeopardy? Or Buckhead Backlot? Where are my memories going? Sometimes I think the city needs to slow down and appreciate what makes Atlanta the city it is, and it's not the location, and occasionally it ain't the people, but the semi pseudo institutions that have lived and thrived here despite. There should have been a special dispensation for Atlanta's twenty four hour nightspots. Closing a Waffle House should take an act of the State Senate.

Who in Atlanta doesn't have a Kroger card?

Barkeep - Give me some of the that Big K soda.