The Cobb County Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve a zoning request that will transform the shuttered Walmart Neighborhood Market at Olde Mill Shopping Center into an indoor pickleball facility complete with golf simulators, arcade games and a full sports bar. The grocery store, located at the intersection of Old Canton Road and Roswell Road in East Cobb, closed in 2024, leaving a large retail void that county officials have now cleared to fill with a very different kind of foot traffic.
The vote at Tuesday's zoning hearing kept the property's Neighborhood Retail Commercial designation intact while adding special provisions permitting indoor pickleball and golf simulator uses, according to the Marietta Daily Journal. Commissioner Erick Allen was absent from the vote. East Cobb News reported that the board's approval specifically allows an indoor sports facility use within the Neighborhood Retail Commercial zoning category and described the former grocery store as a 46,761-square-foot space being converted by Jay Mathis.
What's Actually Moving Into the Old Grocery Space
The operation taking over the site pairs The Pickle Pad, an indoor pickleball franchise concept, with Crave Social Eatery, the restaurant franchise partnering with it on the concept. The East Cobb location's plans call for 12 pickleball courts and four golf simulators, along with social games, a kitchen and a bar, per the same East Cobb News report. Franchisees Jay Mathis and Cynthia Lee are the ones preparing to bring the brand to the Marietta area, according to What Now Atlanta.
The menu of amenities goes well beyond paddles and nets. Plans describe professional-grade indoor pickleball courts, more than 20 social and yard games, big-screen TVs, lounge seating cabanas and arcade games alongside the full sports bar and restaurant, per the seed reporting tied to the zoning filing. The Pickle Pad's Marietta location page advertises courts, games, a sports bar and a restaurant. What Now Atlanta mentioned burgers and flatbreads among Crave's menu offerings. East Cobb News also reported the facility would run seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
A Joint Venture in East Cobb
The Pickle Pad and Crave Social Eatery are joining forces for the East Cobb project.
Behind the brand is X3 Family Entertainment, which is planning a multipurpose development at the East Cobb site with several pickleball courts, golf simulators, social games, a sports bar and restaurant.
When Could Paddles Start Flying?
One estimate puts the opening sometime in fall, while What Now Atlanta reported that operators were targeting a summer 2026 opening for the Marietta location, subject to permitting and construction. That same outlet described the space as sitting on a 5,000-square-foot mezzanine within a 50,000-square-foot building at 3101 Roswell Road — yet another figure that does not obviously reconcile with the 46,761-square-foot figure cited elsewhere in the coverage.
Other Closed Big-Box Stores Find New Uses
Other closed big-box stores have found similar second lives. In Charleston, Illinois, a redevelopment plan for a shuttered Walmart includes temperature-controlled self-storage units alongside an indoor pickleball facility and concession areas, according to WCIA. For East Cobb, the project is moving from zoning approval toward construction.
