During lunch hour, the staff at Grady Hospital grab a hot slice of pizza at Carlo’s Pizza, students and locals purchase fresh produce from City Produce or prepare for dinner with a whole salmon from Atlantic Seafood.
There is only one downtown location where one can find all of these things: the Municipal Market, better known as the Sweet Auburn Curb Market.
The Municipal Market of Atlanta opened in 1924, rising from the ashes of the Great Atlanta Fire of 1917. The market represents the downtown community’s grit and resilience as it remains a vibrant and busy venue for local vendors and a functioning figurehead of Auburn Avenue’s rich history.
Like many historical sites in Georgia, the Municipal Market has a racist past. Historically, though Black customers were allowed to shop inside the market, Black vendors had to sell their products outside on the curb, which is how the “Curb Market” came to be.
But in the market’s more modern history, it is the birthplace of popular local businesses and has been dubbed an “incubator for small businesses” by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Popular eateries such as Grindhouse Killer Burgers, Bell Street Burritos and Miss D’s Pralines have experienced tremendous growth in their businesses since their humble beginnings at the Curb Market.
These three businesses are prime examples of the market’s ability to transform small stands started by ambitious entrepreneurs into successful franchises with multiple locations around and near Atlanta. While Bell Street Burritos closed its Curb Market stand in June 2019 and Grindhouse followed suit in August 2020, these owners can trace their businesses’ success back to the Curb Market.
Dionne Gant, also known as Miss D, is the owner of Miss D’s Pralines. She still operates inside the Curb Market and has succeeded in expanding her business to major hotels in Atlanta and the World Congress Center. Additionally, Grant is a partnering vendor of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Gant relocated to Atlanta after suffering devastating losses from Hurricane Katrina and fulfilled her life-long dream of owning a candy shop. She chose to kick start her business in the Curb Market.
Gant acknowledges that the Curb Market’s segregated history is an integral reason she is inspired to sell her goods there.
“The people before me really laid the foundation for me to be a successful vendor here inside the Sweet Auburn Curb Market,” she said. “I realized that it’s a historical site, and I realize that for a lot of the families and friends around the great city of Atlanta, it’s home for them [and] it’s an honor to be inside the Municipal Market.”
The Curb Market symbolizes surviving adversity for native Atlantans, which hasn’t changed since the COVID-19 pandemic made its way to the city. The market continues to see a bustling lunch hour and many loyal customers daily. According to Gant, the key to maintaining a business during economic uncertainty is to build the foundation of a business on love.
“I believe that my stand is different [from others] only because our foundation is love,” she said. “If you go to the core of the reason why you started and it was never about the money, it was about the service, and to be able to serve people, then you will be fine. And I believe that we will be fine.”
