Morrow is pressing pause on any new convenience stores or nail salons opening in the city of 7,500 residents.
The Clayton County community has imposed a 120-day moratorium on license applications from businesses in about 10 categories, including beauty suppliers, urgent care facilities, convenience stores, discount retailers and nail salons. The city wants to study whether the businesses are over-represented and how to create more balance in future license applications.
“We are inundated with various types of offers for businesses that we already have many of,” said Morrow Mayor Jeffrey DeTar. “We just want to slow down and give it a thoughtful process before we start approving some more.”
Leaders across metro Atlanta this year have placed moratoriums on types of businesses that have exploded in their communities, including a Lilburn freeze on stores selling alternative nicotine products, a Stonecrest halt to new cell towers and a Stockbridge pause on licenses for barber shops, tire stores tattoo parlors and title lending businesses.
Morrow, home to Southlake Mall, AMC Theatres and big-box stores such as Best Buy and Home Depot, is the retail heart of Clayton. Discount stores, tire shops and nail salons began proliferating as traditional retailers, hurt over the last decade as consumers have turned toward online shopping, abandoned buildings and shopping centers.
Two of Morrow’s main thoroughfares have a string of duplicate businesses, DeTar said, which is not only bad for residents because it robs the community of diverse shopping options, but also hurts the stores.
“We’ve gotten to the point that if we allow any more, we’re hurting the businesses that we already have,” he said.
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