Cookin’ Up A Storm, a sandwich shop in Decatur, has closed its doors after two and a half years -- citing a lack of customer parking as a major concern.
“If somebody is going to pay $3 for a parking space, they aren’t going to run in and get a sandwich combo,” said owner Robin Devos. “The pedestrian traffic just isn’t enough to support what I was doing.”
The City of Decatur recently increased its meter rates to $3 per hour and limited parking to two hours every day except Sunday.
Even with parking out in front of the restaurant, Devos said she started to see the writing on the wall when other businesses closed nearby and blamed a lack of parking.
“Having been down there for a while, it seems to have gotten worse,” Devos said.
Linda Harris, director of community development and economic development for the city of Decatur, said if metered spots aren’t regulated to keep cars moving around the city, some cars could be allowed to stay put all day.
Decatur business closed due to lack of parking, owner says
“If we have free metered parking, then employees tend to park there. People who work, who ride MARTA and work downtown tend to park there,” Harris said. “So, it is mainly to keep those spaces free.”
Harris detailed the city's plan to address parking issues in the city and some of its reasoning behind the parking time change in the city of Decatur's newsletter.
Devos said she told the city about her parking concerns, and negotiated a free 15-minute spot for her customers.
“But, it took me six months to get that – and a lot of persistence,” Devos said. “I had a lady say to me, if I didn’t have that spot today, I wouldn’t have stopped.”
In the end, the temporary parking spot couldn’t keep her business open.
Harris said there are over 11,000 parking spots in downtown Decatur and a majority are located in parking decks and surface lots. Many of those parking decks are privately owned.
“We hate it when businesses go under and that is the issue with small independent businesses,” Harris said. “We encourage people to park in the decks and get used to parking in the decks – it is actually better spaces, because you get to park longer.”
Driving through downtown Decatur, 11Alive found several open spots – for $6 per hour with a maximum rate of $12 per day.
Devos said that parking is the reason why her business closed.
“It was definitely hindered by the fact that people couldn’t get to us,” Devos said. “It wasn’t that we failed, necessarily. It was just that we didn’t have enough foot-traffic.”
While Cookin’ Up A Storm no longer has a storefront – it’ll still serve eaters in Decatur.
Devos is taking the restaurant wholesale and plans to partner with other businesses in Atlanta, according to the company's website.