West Atlanta grocery store providing neighborhood fresh food, community

ATLANTA - A West Atlanta grocery store is aiming to create positive change in its community.

You can tell The Grocery Spot is not your typical grocery store from the moment you walk inside.

Mixed in between the flour and the fruit at West Atlanta's The Grocery Spot are artwork and crafts.

"Basically I'm a platform for the community that sells some groceries," the grocery's co-owner Matthew Jones said.

Jones came up with the idea when he moved into the neighborhood last year.

"When we got here we realized there was no food. You had to drive 15 minutes just to get produce," he said.

Jones says he saw the problem but wanted to bring in people from the neighborhood to make the shop thrive. 

The store isn't just bringing in the basics. They're filling the shelves with local vendors like Russell Wiggins' coffee.

"Matthew is giving us the opportunity to be on the shelf. And that is huge for me and any other entrepreneur, that I can 
say we have a home now where you can get our coffee, get our products every day instead of at a farmers market or online," Wiggins says.

And the owners want the grocery store to be a place for the community to enjoy too.

"We have art classes we do movie nights for the children, we have the bonfire outside, you can also get a good cup of coffee while you shop, check out some artwork," another one of the co-owners said.

But the bigger goal is change - changing what's accessible for the people nearby and changing the neighborhood as a whole.

"We're turning the neighborhood around, we're registering people to vote. We're teaching them that small politics matter," Jones said. "If you want to change how things operate in the neighborhood you've got to vote,"

So one apple, one painting, and one conversation at a time, The Grocery Spot is making a difference. 

You can check out The Grocery Spot seven days a week in Grove Park and learn more about the store and its events on its website.

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