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Health & Fitness

Parking Lots Tell Story Of Oconee County and Atlanta Highway Shopping Malls

The contrast on Saturday between Oconee County’s Epps Bridge Centre and the shopping centers on Atlanta Highway in Athens-Clarke County was striking.

Epps Bridge Centre was celebrating the official opening of three Gap Inc. stores, and cars filled the parking lot in front of the stores later in the day.

The parking lot in front of the closed Old Navy store in the Athens Promenade on Atlanta Highway was nearly empty.

At the nearby Georgia Square Mall, the display windows of the former Gap store were covered in black, and pedestrian traffic around the vacant store was light.

Across Atlanta Highway from Georgia Square Mall, Pier 1 Imports was in the final days of its closing sale, with almost nothing left on the shelves.

The new Pier 1 store at the Epps Bridge Centre is part of a row of stores with signs promoting their upcoming openings.

The contrast is likely to get even starker.

The Oconee County Code Enforcement Office issued three new interior permits on Thursday and another today for new shops coming to Epps Bridge Centre.

For more on these developments, including details of the permits issued for new stores, go to Oconee County Observations

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