Smyrna's unemployment rate drops, but another S. Cobb Dr. business to close

The second of Smyrna’s two Blockbuster locations began its march to closure Monday.

Last month, Patch reported that the would soon be shutting its doors. A store representative said last week that its doors would be closed for good sometime in the next two weeks.

Now the Blockbuster at 2900 S. Cobb Drive is prepping to close after offering movie and video game rentals for the final time over the past weekend. A store employee said the store would begin slashing inventory prices beginning this week and the store should be closed by April.

Blockbuster, once the leading provider of video and game rentals, hit financial troubles in 2010 when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after accumulating $1 billion in debt.

A few months ago, Dish Network purchased the chain, which has 1,700 locations, for $228 million, according to wire reports. After its acquisition, the network decided to continue operating 500 stores, leaving the other 1,200 locations eligible for purchase. It also moved to close all Blockbuster locations in Canada.

Across the street from the S. Cobb Dr. Blockbuster sits the former Piccadilly Cafeteria that has been vacant since its June closing. While Smyrna residents are celebrating last week’s opening of the new Kroger at The Crossings development, a quarter-mile north will soon sit the empty Blockbuster and Piccadilly structures.

In July, a small group of community leaders and concerned citizens met to begin formulating the Smyrna South Cobb Drive Coalition in an attempt to engage private citizens and business owners along South Cobb to improve the corridor through community pressure and code enforcement.

Are you concerned about the types of businesses, or lack thereof, along South Cobb Drive?

What types of businesses would you like to see take the place of the Blockbuster and Piccadilly locations?

Meanwhile, Georgia is trying hard to shake the reputation that people who receive unemployment benefits here, stay on them for longer than the rest of the nation. Georgia Labor Commissioner Mark Butler released a statement last week insisting Georgians come off state unemployment benefits earlier than the rest of the country.

Recent media reports, including a piece in the Wall Street Journal that profiled Roswell residents, say about 40 percent of those receiving unemployment in the metro Atlanta region have been doing so for at least one year - compared to the national average of 29 percent.

But last Wednesday, the Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) shared some of their own statistics. According to the department, as of December 2011, the average Georgian - beyond just the metro area - on state unemployment insurance stopped benefits after 13.3 weeks, compared to the national average of 17.4 weeks.

Butler said Georgians stop their state unemployment payments sooner because the GDOL ties benefits to job training and to a bevy of re-employment services.

“When people think of a labor department, traditionally they think of the ‘unemployment office,’” Butler said. “In Georgia, we are trying to stop that. This is an ‘employment office.’ We strive for that designation.”

Unfortunately, an increase in the December 2011 unemployment rate in metro Atlanta means there will be more people for the "employment office" to assist.

According to preliminary statistics released Jan. 26, the department announced the state unemployment rate had risen to 9.4 percent in December 2011, . At 9.6 percent, Smyrna’s unemployment rate went down one-tenth of a percentage point in December and is down nine-tenths of a percentage point since October. Smyrna Labor Force Estimates (not seasonally adjusted)*

Month

Labor Force

Employment

Unemployment #

%

Dec. 2011

28,9292

25,583

2,709

9.6

Revised Nov. 2011

28,303

25,560

2,743

9.7

Revised Dec. 2010

27,961

25,028

2,933

10.5

The state rate increased because there were layoffs in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, administrative and support services, as well as accommodations and food services.

Metro Athens and Warner Robins had the lowest area rates at 7.3 percent, while metro Dalton had the highest at 12.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined in December for the third straight month, dropping to 9.7 percent, down from a revised 9.8 percent in November. The jobless rate was 10.4 percent in December a year ago.

The state rate declined because 11,500 Georgians went back to work in December. Statewide, there were 600 new construction jobs, and manufacturing grew by 400 jobs. Job gains also came in information services and trade and transportation - Alpharetta Patch contributed to this report

*Source: Georgia Department of Labor, Workforce Statistics & Economic Research