Recent construction in Atlanta over the past few months has increasingly impacted restaurants and small businesses. More construction causes congestion, making it more difficult to access Midtown businesses.
“I have been working in Midtown, and on my drives home the lanes are so much more congested, and the lanes are being cut down where I see a new lane gone everyday,” Stacy Brown, a local who works in the Midtown area, said. “I mean, it’s important because that’s the way a lot of people drive through Atlanta.”
Midtown resident Michael Stolmen used to live close to Midtown High School and noted that there were always people complaining about traffic. In addition, Stolmen mentions the struggles various Midtown businesses have undergone in the process of reshaping the streets.
“Every morning when I was on the way to work, all of the parking on the sides of streets in front of neighborhood businesses and community restaurants were always packed with cars or blocked off,” Stolmen said. “Anywhere I tried going for breakfast, it was a mess trying to park anywhere, and if I did go inside, then I would often be the only person in the store.”
Midtown restaurant owner of 5ChurchMidtown, Ayman Kamel, sees that road construction, along with traffic delays, is getting worse and even notes that customers have recently been canceling plans or arriving extremely late.
“I love my job, and I was excited to come into work and see all of my customers, but more recently I can see the outside scene, and traffic is a nightmare,” Kamel said. “A bunch of my neighbors have also been comparing it to how it takes an unnecessarily long time.”
The inaccessibility of restaurants and businesses has hurt both sales and the customer experience.
“It is an awful situation for everyone, especially considering the landlord isn’t accounting for the traffic, but we have excited customers, and the business relies on a consistent wave of guests to come,” Kamel said. “It’s disappointing. We go through the same traffic to get to work, but customers look at it as a waste of time.”
Tajuansa Diallo, owner of Soak and Polish, a popular Midtown nail bar, said street closures have led to a decrease in customers since most of the nearby streets are blocked off.
“We used to have customers first thing in the morning, and we booked appointments but more recently people have been calling to cancel at the last minute because they cannot find parking, and accessing the streets has become more complicated,” Diallo said. “It’s hard to come into work everyday and just wait for customers to cancel because I love my job, and I hope there will be a solution to bring back business.”
Diallo is even considering moving locations to a less busy area of Atlanta so customers can avoid the construction and long traffic delays. She believes that it would be a big project, but the benefit of restoring customer service would be worth it in the long run.
“If this is going to continue all the way until the World Cup and even after, it might make sense to think about relocating plans,” Diallo said. “It would take a lot of time and effort to fix and set up, but it’s worth it to bring back business, and I believe most of our loyal customers will return to the new location.”
Diallo said some customers who do come in have mentioned that parking has become a problem, and blocked streets and confusing detours have made visiting more difficult.
“When I do see my customers, they have told me they wish it was not so complicated for them to come in,” Diallo said. “A lot of them have missed our services and have suggested things such as moving locations. I tell them it is not that simple, but it does make me feel better to know that the customers miss our services.”
