There is little doubt that the 1.53 million square-foot Fayette Pavilion brings a wealth of shoppers to Fayetteville. But where do those shoppers come from? Based on a June 25 survey by The Citizen, the answer is Fayette, Clayton and Fulton counties with a sprinkling of shoppers from a host of other counties across metro Atlanta and beyond.
The Citizen decided to try to answer the question of just where shoppers at the Pavilion might call home. Though not intended to be an all-encompassing review, the June 25 survey included a sampling of 467 vehicles for which the county of registration could be determined.
Of the 467 vehicles surveyed, 161 were from Fayette County and 152 were from Clayton County. Of the total number of vehicles counted, that translates into 34.4 percent from Fayette and 32.5 percent from Clayton. So vehicles from Fayette and Clayton represented roughly two-thirds of those counted.
Coming in third place was Fulton County with 73 vehicles, or 15.6 percent.
But there was more to the story. It was not unexpected that the majority of vehicles would come from the three-county area. But who would expect that the remaining 17.5 percent of the vehicles counted June 25 would come from 24 other counties?
A breakdown by county showed 22 from Henry, 14 from Coweta, 10 from Spalding, seven from DeKalb, five from Cobb, four from Meriwether and two from Ben Hill. And the counties represented with one vehicle each were Barrow, Heard, Carroll, Chatham, Clarke, Telfair, Upson, Pike, Douglas, Lamar, Troup, Gilmer, Harris, Dougherty, Haralson, Rockdale and Gwinnett.
It should be noted that the number of vehicles included in the survey were counted primarily at small to medium sized stores. A maximum of 75 vehicles at the big-box Walmart were included in the count.
Also pertaining to the count, vehicles parked the greatest distance from stores were not counted since employees sometimes park further from stores to give customers easier access.
Also, whether the vehicle’s drivers were all shoppers or a mix of shoppers and store employees could not be determined in this non-scientific survey. And, strictly speaking, a driver who moved from another county in Georgia to Fayette could legally keep the other county’s tag until tag renewal time.
In terms of size and by way of comparison, the Mall of Georgia that draws shoppers from across north Georgia is listed as having 1.78 million square feet.
