History
In summer 2024, Melanie Styles – Owner of Cultured South and Market 166 Owner #217 – approached the Market 166 Board with an opportunity to join as a community partner in Cultured South’s renovation of Atlanta Utility Works in East Point. Sharing a commitment to connecting community through good food, we said “yes!”.
Through our partnership with Atlanta Utility Works, we are able to actualize our mission of expanding access to good food, investing in our community, cultivating a hub for community gathering, and engaging with our neighbors — even before our full-service grocery store opens.
Reflections on One Year
The taproom at Atlanta Utility Works opened in January 2025, and we opened our mini-market alongside them. We are excited to share some reflections and highlights from the year!
Expanding access to quality food & investing in our community: We have been able to invest in our community by buying from over 20 local, family-owned businesses. The vast majority of what we sell at our mini-market – from honey to coffee to pickles to juices and more – are made close to where we call home. This ensures the money you spend with us is reinvested in our local economy, and that the foods are some of the freshest and highest quality around.
Creating a hub for community & healthy living:
We have hosted a variety of community-oriented events, bringing different neighborhoods and groups within the area together through good food.
- Owners & Friends Day in May: A few months after initially opening, we were ready to bring people to the mini market and give a tour of the building! In addition to sharing food samples from some of our local vendors, we held a scavenger hunt that shared historical facts about food access in East Point, including the history of some former neighborhood grocery stores.
- Farm Bike Tour in September: In partnership with Tri-Cities Neighborhood Bike Group and Outback Bikes, we brought neighbors together to bike to and then tour three distinct local food enterprises: Concrete Jungle’s Doghead Farm, ArtsXChange’s community gardens, and Oyun Botanical Gardens
Onward
A committee of Market 166 Owners is leading this project and we want to continue hearing from you! Let us know if you have suggestions for snacks or groceries you’d like to see on-site, or if there are local food producers you’d like to see on our shelves. Email auw@market166.com or use our contact form!
