Murder Kroger’s rebranding exercise

The grocery store has renovated, connected to the BeltLine, and put up a new mural
2306
Photograph by Kaylinn Gilstrap
Photograph by Kaylinn Gilstrap

When November 10, 2014
Where Ponce de Leon Avenue

Disco. Hipster. Kosher. Murder. Atlantans have a penchant for nicknaming their Kroger stores. That last moniker was bestowed on the Ponce de Leon Avenue location after a deadly 1991 shooting in its parking lot. The name has stuck; there’s even a Twitter handle (@MurderKroger). But over the past 18 months, management at the store, which abuts the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail, funded a major renovation, installed a ramp connecting it to the path, and even added a bike repair station. This 28-by-186-foot mural, on the trail-facing wall, was designed by three SCAD illustration students Jing Li, Hanrou Li, and Sena Kwon, and painted by the Loss Prevention mural collective. Fans are promoting a new nickname: BeltLine Kroger. It seems only sporting to give it a chance.

This article originally appeared in our January 2015 issue.

Advertisement