Mims Bledsoe, owner of Pie Shop in Buckhead’s West Village area, said the retail district contains a high-concentration of independently-owned businesses like hers.
That independence also means that the businesses there aren’t speaking with a unified voice, Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe and other business owners are exploring the possibility of a West Village Merchants Association that would better represent the interests of the 40 acre block of shops. On Oct. 22, about 30 people interested in the idea gathered at the Buckhead Theater. Buckhead Community Improvement District Executive Director Jim Durrett attended, and also discussed the possibility of the West Village area joining the CID.
If the merchants decided to form an association and also join the CID, Durrett told them the CID could make $2 million worth of infrastructure improvements to the area, funded by $60,000 in annual self-imposed taxes paid by the business owners.
“They just realized Peachtree Road is getting worked on and nobody’s paying attention to them and they’re trying to figure out what they can do about it,” Durrett said.
Bledsoe said she’d like to see the area become a more walkable community like downtown Decatur.
“I feel that we really could turn the area around so that people would want to spend time on the weekends,” she said.