Alongside the City of Atlanta and Walmart, FMGI celebrated the grand opening of the Vine City Walmart Neighborhood Center on May 22nd. After the previous Walmart Supercenter was burned down and closed, the area became a food desert and unfortunately the local community suffered. However, after an incredible private-public effort between Walmart and the City of Atlanta, the store was completely transformed and reopened as a Neighborhood Market. The 57,000 square-foot store now features 90% grocery products and has the largest grocery storage area in Walmart’s world-wide portfolio. The neighborhood market also includes a full-service pharmacy and an Atlanta Police Touchdown station, making safety a priority.

Remodel initiatives included: 

• incorporated latest Walmart design prototype into the build
• completely flipped the sales floor
• relocated the pharmacy, refrigerated cases and entire deli
• expanded online grocery pickup area 
• repainted entire interior + exterior of building
• upfitted signage to new Walmart neighborhood market sign package

FMGI is honored to work alongside a retailer that truly meets the needs of the community it serves and this project will forever stand out to our team.  

FMGI celebrated the grand opening with a check presentation to drawchange, as part of FMGI’s Give Back Initiative. drawchange’s mission is to spark the energy of world peace by igniting the love of learning in the world’s children. In using the research-based principles of integrating not only the arts but also art therapy into children’s general curriculum, they hope to increase self-esteem and critical thinking skills to help kids better cope with life’s stresses. Wherever there is a need, drawchange wants to be there providing self-empowering art classes to children experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty.

Shout out to the FMGI team members most involved in this challenging and historic project: James Owens, Aaron Davis, Angel Perez, Pablo Serrano, Jay Williams, Anthony Whitson, Jeff Lippitt, Davis Moezzi, and Alicia Bute. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. Your passion was evident throughout the construction process and your efforts delivered a great store remodeled to accommodate the needs of the community.