David Glenn of David’s Produce Market handed two plastic bags of his famous boiled peanuts to Kristi Steed on a recent morning.
Steed, who has been frequenting the produce stand and country store for nearly 20 years, said she usually stops in weekly, since she lives only half a mile down the road. On this day, she was loading up on peanuts to bring to her college-aged kids. Her children grew up eating the boiled peanuts from David’s, so now they always request a bag when she visits.
The store, which opened at this location in 1995, has attracted countless regulars, many of whom live nearby. But the future of David’s Produce is uncertain.
The property on which the shop is located, which also contains a small house at the back, was put up for sale in mid-August after the previous owner died. Glenn, 63, and his 80-year-old mother, Judy Black, are waiting to see what the sale will mean for the business their family started 91 years ago.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
When Glenn’s grandparents originally started the produce stand in 1933, they operated at several city markets around Atlanta. They were at the Atlanta Municipal Market for 41 years before relocating to the store on Lavista Road in Decatur.
Every Saturday and summer of grade school, Glenn said he helped his grandparents work the stand, and he learned how to identify quality produce. When he graduated high school, he went straight into the family business full time and now runs it with his mother.
Customers coming into the modest-sized store Mondays to Saturdays will find Black manning the cash register and Glenn seeing to the many tasks that come with operating a country store. He sorts through and purchases fresh produce from wholesalers, whips up 70-pound batches of boiled peanuts, runs Knives Atlanta from one corner of the store and constantly restocks the tomatoes that have become the shop’s main seller.
It’s not an easy business to run, Glenn said. They work 10 hours a day, six days a week. He couldn’t say what exactly has kept them going all this time. “It’s in the blood,” he said. “That’s the best way I can put it. It’s just what you do.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
As for the store’s future, Glenn said he’s known the property would go up for sale since last October, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
“It’s a punch in the gut,” he said. “You know it’s got to end someday, but it’s never going to be easy.”
The half-acre property has been on the market at $750,000 for a few weeks. It includes a two-bedroom house, in addition to the store building.
The storefront first opened in 1950, before the neighborhood grew around it, said Jason Moore, the property’s listing agent. Since it has been operating continuously as a grocery store, a grandfather clause allows it to stay open, even though the area now is zoned residential. As long as it continues to operate as David’s Produce Market and doesn’t close or change business licenses, it can continue as it is. But if someone were to buy the property and Glenn had to leave, the new owner wouldn’t be able to reopen the building as a business, Moore said.
He said it was difficult to predict how long the property would be on the market because of its uniqueness. They’ve tried to advertise it as an opportunity for a homeowner to supplement their income by renting the store building to Glenn. So far, Moore said, the only people who have shown interest are locals.
As a result of the uncertainty, Glenn is keeping a much lower inventory of hot sauces, honey, jams and vintage sodas than usual, in case the store must close. It’s becoming more stressful as the holidays approach; normally, Glenn would be preparing to stock up for Christmas by ordering extra sauces, candied nuts, gift baskets and general produce, but he isn’t sure whether they’ll be there through the holidays.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Susanne Thompson, who lives about a mile away, said she has been frequenting the shop for about 25 years. It’s where she goes to pick up jams and fresh produce, especially tomatoes.
If David’s went away, she said, it would be a huge loss for the community. “There is a deep, deep place for having local businesses, people that make their living here, people that are part of the history of the area.”
Glenn said his customers appreciate having a place like his, with some of the best produce around, right in their neighborhood. He has relationships with producers that big-box stores don’t have, he said, and he looks through every crate of produce, particularly tomatoes, to ensure he’s getting the highest quality year-round.
Longtime customers, including Barry Spurlock, will go the extra mile for those tomatoes. Spurlock moved away from the area to Ansley Park, but his wife still sends him to David’s to buy peaches and tomatoes.
“The fresh produce is so much better than anything you can buy in the grocery store,” Spurlock said on a recent trip to David’s. “And, frankly, if they weren’t here, I don’t know where else to go, other than Jaemor (Farms), up halfway to Gainesville.”
David’s Produce Market, 3561 Lavista Road, Decatur, 404 325-0709. davidsproducemarket.com
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