Who doesn’t love exploring a new grocery store on their travels? Sampling foreign spices, trying an unfamiliar drink, getting adventurous in the beauty aisle? But what’s it like for longtime locals who are simply doing their weekly shop? Sheeka Sanahori shares her take on what happened when her local store became a TikTok sensation.
Half a dozen people hover by the entrance, waiting for the doors to open at 9am. As the minutes inch closer to the top of the hour, dozens of people descend from their cars to file a single line. By the time opening is one minute away, a hundred shoppers stretch down the sidewalk.
These people aren’t here for the latest high-tech gadget or must-see concert ticket. Nope. It’s a typical Saturday morning at my local grocery store, Your Dekalb Farmers Market near Atlanta, Georgia. This opening hour queue has become a regular weekend occurrence. Mostly thanks to TikTok like this one. “This is the craziest spices and seasonings assortment I’ve ever seen in my life,” another TikToker exclaims. I recognized the six-foot-tall shelving holding thousands of small plastic containers filled with turmeric, onion salt, and numerous other spices as the display at my local market.
According to Expedia’s latest travel trends report, 39 percent of travelers visit supermarkets or grocery stores when away from home. I feel that trend every time I step into my local market. Initially, I was excited to see it recognized as a hub for global ingredients.
Then I realized word of mouth and viral social media videos about its international wares—from Anna’s Swedish ginger thins (cookies) and tangy eggplant dip Baba Ghanoush to spiced North African merguez lamb sausage– had catapulted the store into a visitor attraction, resulting in larger crowds, lines, and a fuller parking lot. The thing is, I too enjoy visiting grocery stores when I travel, but now that I see how crowds impact my local store, I feel my touristic grazing is at best, a nuisance, and at worst, a disruption to another’s routine errands.
Robert Blazer first opened the farmer’s market in 1977 after going door-to-door asking neighbors if they wanted a community store. He started his business with an initial USD$35,000 investment, but building and stocking it proved costly. “I had enough money left for just one load of produce, that was it,” he recalls. “I went down to the state farmer’s market, got what I could get. I brought it back and prayed that I could sell it.”
He sold out that day and started to find his footing, despite shaky times in the early years. He met Barbara in 1987, shortly after he’d moved the store to its current building, and she’s been helping him run the store ever since.
I first started coming to Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market as a child, some 30 years ago. My father would search for the freshest baguette to make its way to the bread stand … We’d find an empty bench on the market’s front patio, break the loaf, and sit and eat the warm bread as we watched other shoppers come and go.
Although the store started with local produce, it began to offer global foods based on customer demand. Now much of its reputation relies on international imports: Olive oil from Italy, coconut water from Thailand, and row upon row of fruits and vegetables from Mexico. In a community known for its diverse population—Dekalb County has a significant immigrant population—the market is a central place for staples and prides itself on its global approach, with dozens of world flags hanging from the ceiling.
The store has also gained a reputation for some operational quirks. For example, they don’t accept credit cards; Robert says he runs his business in the same manner, not using credit or loans. They also maintain a strict no-photography policy, with large signs posted at the entrances. The Blazers say it’s so competitors don’t see their prices.
I first started coming to Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market as a child, some 30 years ago. My family would pick up a few fruits and packaged nuts, then head to the bread aisles. My father would search for the freshest baguette at the bread stand—if he could see steam from a warm loaf creating a foggy layer around the clear packaging, he’d buy it.
Next, we’d find an empty bench on the market’s front patio, break the loaf, and sit and eat the warm bread as we watched other shoppers come and go.
Years later, when I began dating my now husband, I took him to the same store. We’d wander through aisles of produce with our eyes scanning the ceiling, looking for the orange, white, and green colors of his home country’s flag.
Today, our eight-year-old son can easily spot Niger’s flag. He doesn’t like making the weekly run, because the store is cold—the inside is always a cool 62 degrees Fahrenheit. But I allow him to grab foods that are new to him. One week, it’s yellow dragon fruit, the next, mocha java coffee beans he begs me to let him try after I brew a cup at home.
Claudia Canales first visited the market when she moved to Atlanta in 2016. “I had never seen anywhere like it and was mesmerized by how lively it was,” she says. “I’ve moved so many times and tried to find markets that were similar to it. Nothing has the same vibes. It’s special because this indoor market reminds me of the style of an outdoor market like I had back home in Chile.”
Now that I’ve experienced the other side, as a local navigating my home store full of visitors, I’m reflecting on how I visit markets and stores away from home.
She’s noticed the recent uptick in traffic too. For Canales, every hour in the market feels busy; going from the cheese counter to the seafood department requires merging with a flow of people shuffling forward and standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow shoppers.
Like many of us who shop here, Canales doesn’t want to gatekeep. But she’s concerned about the impact. “I’m torn because on one hand, I’m glad that they have all this business but on the other, it feels like this little gem that we have here has been leaked.”
I’m part of the 39 percent who visit grocery stores while traveling. To me, there’s no greater pleasure than strolling the main corridor of a fish market in Panama, or surprising friends with palm-sized packets of spices from a Cambodian market.
A fond memory that has yet to fade is visiting the Mercado Municipal de Sao Paulo and tasting a jabuticaba, an Amazonian fruit also known as the Brazilian grapetree that I’d never seen until that day.
Now that I’ve experienced the other side, as a local navigating my home store full of visitors, I’m reflecting on how I visit markets and stores away from home.
Most importantly, I’m mindful about the time of day I visit, avoiding busy weekends and the early evening midweek rush as people stop in for supplies after work. If a store I’d like to visit has multiple locations, I’ll seek out less busy locations. As for shopping, I avoid buying anything in bulk, and I skip items in low supply—less disruption to local people who rely on the store for their everyday needs.
For the Blazers, operating a store frequented by regulars and visitors alike is the best dilemma a business could have—but they’re working on making it more comfortable for everyone. Co-owner Barbara Blazer says staff have noticed a shift in customer patterns over the years. They see most local shoppers adjusting their schedules to shop during the week, leaving Atlanta visitors to explore the store’s spices, cheeses, and coffee during the congested weekend afternoons.
“We want to make it so people can go there and be with each other, sit down, get something quick to eat, do their shopping, and leave instead of being crowded out by people who are coming in to sightsee,” adds Robert Blazer. “So the next phase of development is geared towards that.”
Years ago, they bought and graded land behind the store’s parking lot, but delayed expansion. Now, they’ve begun trying to figure out how to expand again, but it’ll likely take years before anything comes to fruition. In the meantime, I’ll do a little more gatekeeping, recommending other local Atlanta grocery stores for newcomers to visit… just until Your Dekalb Farmer’s Market has expanded enough to accommodate tourists and locals alike.
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Sheeka Sanahori is a freelance journalist and video producer who writes about family travel, sustainability, food and history for Travel + Leisure, Washington Post, National Geographic and others, and has produced videos for Lonely Planet and USA Today. As an 'International Center for Journalists' Bringing Home the World' fellow, Sheeka shot, wrote and produced a series of videos about wildlife conservation in Kenya.
