Emory Magazine | In Brief: Emory Village Update

Emory Village may not officially be part of campus, but the area has long played a role in the life of the University. A short walk beyond the Haygood-Hopkins Gate reveals that the commercial strip along North Decatur Road has experienced something of a renaissance.

The fifty-seven-year-old Kroger store closed its doors in December. The space has been filled by a CVS pharmacy and a fresh meat and produce shop operated by Decatur-based Shield’s Meat Market. Flanking the CVS are Doc Chey’s Noodle House, which has replaced the former Emory Village Laundry, and a Planet Smoothie outlet, which has made its home in the former Village Hair shop. A Smoothie King has opened across the street.


				Jon Gordon ’95G (left) and Tom Cook ’98L have purchased Jagger’s Cafe, which they operate as Park Bench Tap & Grill.

On the south side of North Decatur Road, another village institution also has changed hands. BILL JAGGER ’70G has sold Jagger’s Cafe to a pair of Emory graduates who renamed it Park Bench Tap & Grill. JON GORDON ’95G and TOM COOK ’98L, whose Park Bench Company owns several restaurants in the Atlanta area, say fate kept the location in the “Emory family.”

“We were looking in the Decatur area when we heard that Bill was thinking about retiring,” says Gordon.

Another newcomer to the village is Druid Hills Books, formerly located in the Dobbs University Center (DUC) under the name Lullwater Books. Now located in the former Emory Village Bookstore site, Druid Hills Books features scholarly and academic titles. In the DUC, Emory Bookstore offers undergraduate textbooks and gift shop items.—S.P.