You really can find almost anything on Facebook Marketplace. Even a piece of Atlanta history.
The first letter of the sign at Atlanta’s famed Beltline-adjacent Kroger is up on Facebook Marketplace.
The “K” fell into the hands of friends Mouna Vadlamudi and Sam Rojas when they were walking along the Beltline on Wednesday afternoon, Rojas said, who is listed as the seller. Construction crews were taking down the original sign and replacing it with a new one, and an interested Vadlamudi asked what they were going to do with the letters. They were told the crew was going to throw them away, Rojas said, so Vadlamudi asked to take the “K.” The other letters had already been taken or discarded.
With the help of another friend, Brandon Busch, the trio lifted the letter into a truck. But when they tried to move the “K” into Vadlamudi’s house, it wouldn’t fit. That prompted them to list the nearly 7-foot-tall letter for sale. It’s priced at $1,000, but Rojas is open to other offers.
Now, the friends are vetting buyers, hoping to see the “K” go to a good home.
The Beltline-hugging Kroger is the replacement store of what perhaps was the most infamous grocery store in the city, sitting across from Ponce City Market and next to 725 Ponce, the first ground-up office building in the rapidly-transforming Eastside Trail area. The current location replaced one that opened in the 1980s that came to be known colloquially as “Murder Kroger,” a nickname that developed after a shooting in the store’s parking lot around 30 years ago.
The new Kroger location opened in 2019 as part of the 725 Ponce development, so the “K” isn’t from the original sign.
Other nicknamed Kroger stores in the region include the departed “Disco Kroger” in Buckhead and the closed “Baby Kroger” in Decatur.
In his solicitation on Marketplace, Rojas uses the “Murder Kroger” name and social media users have started to draw attention to the listing. Around 12,000 users have clicked on the listing, Rojas said.
“There’s a lot of history around the ‘Murder Kroger,’ whether or not Kroger wants it to be part of its history,” Rojas said.
Rojas would like to see the sign stay on the Beltline or somewhere in public, perhaps at a restaurant or brewery. He’d consider lowering the price if the right buyer stepped in.
Kroger and 725 Ponce landlord Cousins Properties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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