Albany leaders address temporary closure of Roses Discount Store

ALBANY — Roses Discount Store in east Albany is known for discounted merchandise like clothes, food, outdoor supplies and more as well as its Senior Wednesday, where senior shoppers line the aisles to receive a 10% discount.

The store, located on 1604 E. Oglethorpe Blvd., has been temporarily closed since at least Aug. 9 after complaints about the store’s air conditioning being out for most of the summer reached City Commissioner Jon Howard. Howard and other city and county leaders addressed the store’s situation at a news conference Tuesday.

Along with the broken AC unit, the store has other hazardous conditions that violate city code, like a leaking roof, potholes in the parking lot and broken windows, Howard said.

Albany City Attorney Nathan Davis received an email confirming that the owner of the Roses Shopping Complex hired a general contractor, Nathan Outlaw, to develop plans to demolish and rebuild the complex.

Both of the buildings neighboring Roses will be demolished first, and Roses will be a standalone store until the new construction is completed and Roses can be moved into a new building, according to the email Davis received.

The leaks and AC will be repaired by local businesses Shiver’s Roofing and Albany Air, the email reads.

Howard said he has spent time looking into the concerns of Roses patrons.

“When I went in there last month, it was so hot in there … I was sweating, and I was in there for less than five minutes,” the Ward I city commissioner said.

Roses employs 45 workers, most part-time, an employee who asked that her name not be used due to concerns about keeping her job, said. The employee, who said she has worked at the store for more than 10 years, called the conditions in the store inhumane. Issues have been ongoing for years, she said.

The store manager is finally listening to employees and on board with the changes; however, it wasn’t always like this, the employee said said.

“He’s feeling the heat, too, so he understands what we were talking about all along,” she said.

Dougherty County commissioner Gloria Gaines thanked Howard for “taking a major step” in finding a solution to Roses disrepair. It validates the saying “If you see something, say something,” she said.

“So many of us have complained about it for quite some time,” Gaines said. “You know what you feel when you step in that store. When you drive up to that store, you feel assaulted mentally by what you see.”

Gaines encouraged more people to be vocal with elected officials about issues they notice.

“You elected us to do something and say something on your behalf,” Gaines, who called the landlords at Roses “absent,” said. “They tend not to pay attention to those of us who are considered a little less than others. We may not have all the money in the world, but we still want to be treated as human beings.”

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan