Mayor's Grocery Store

Creating an affordable grocery experience in the heart of ATL.

problem

Downtown Atlanta faced a critical gap in access to fresh, affordable food. Within a two-mile radius of the city center, residents, students, and workers were left without a full-service grocery option following the closure of a long-standing Walgreens. As new housing developments and population growth continue to reshape the area, the lack of accessible food infrastructure posed a growing challenge to community health, equity, and daily life. The project was tasked with transforming the historic Olympia Building, a two-story former retail space, into a grocery store that could serve a diverse and expanding downtown population. The challenge extended beyond inserting a grocery program. The space needed to support intuitive circulation, accessibility, civic pride, and long-term scalability while respecting the building’s history and the community it serves.

solution

Azalea Market reimagines the downtown grocery as both a civic anchor and a flexible service environment. The interior design focused on clarity, flow, and inclusivity, using spatial zoning and wayfinding to support quick visits, exploratory shopping, and community gathering. Two distinct brand presences were developed to balance everyday affordability with moments of warmth and neighborhood identity. The solution integrated strategies for food waste reduction, service design, and operational flexibility, allowing the store to evolve alongside Atlanta’s growth. In parallel, the experience extended beyond the physical space into an online retail platform, ensuring accessibility for a broader range of shoppers and supporting long-term scalability. Together, the physical and digital systems position Azalea Market as both a local resource and a future-facing model for urban grocery design.

This project was developed through close collaboration between the City of Atlanta, Savi Provisions, and a multidisciplinary SCADpro team spanning interior design, UX research, branding, and service design. I was one of a small number of UX designers embedded within the interior team, where I focused on spatial experience, circulation patterns, and decision-making flow across the two-story footprint.

A key focus of the work was zoning the interior to support multiple modes of use beyond grocery shopping alone. In addition to efficient shopping paths, the layout intentionally introduced a third-space environment designed for community gathering, studying, and dining. Located on the second floor, this space now functions as a real eatery and social environment, helping establish Azalea Market as a neighborhood anchor rather than a transactional stop.

My role centered on translating research insights into intuitive layouts that reduced friction at moments of entry, shopping, and exit. This included contributing to zoning strategies, bubble diagrams, and wayfinding logic that supported both first-time visitors and repeat shoppers. Alongside the built work, the team proposed future-facing opportunities such as digital retail extensions, service design strategies, and food waste reduction systems intended to support long-term scalability as downtown Atlanta continues to grow.

The project progressed from early spatial concepts and stakeholder presentations with city leadership to the real-world development and opening of Azalea Market. Today, the built interior and active third-space environment demonstrate how design can address food access while strengthening community life and supporting equitable urban growth.