Johns Creek generated $8,909 in retail sales per resident in 2022, the lowest figure among North Atlanta cities in a new comparison of U.S. Census Bureau data.

Neighboring Alpharetta posted $49,222 per resident over the same period, more than five times Johns Creek's total, the North Atlanta Star reported on Sunday, Aug. 30. The analysis drew on the 2022 Economic Census, which measures businesses primarily engaged in selling merchandise to the public. Restaurants, hotels and service businesses are counted separately.

Alpharetta rang up $3.31 billion in total retail sales. Johns Creek recorded $734 million, a gap of roughly $2.57 billion, despite having more residents.

The disparity does not reflect weak spending power. Johns Creek's median household income of $160,093 is higher than Alpharetta's. Milton, with the highest median income in the comparison at $171,295, also landed near the bottom at $10,140 per resident.

The difference, the North Atlanta Star analysis found, comes down to land use. Decades of development decisions made Alpharetta a regional shopping destination, anchored by Avalon, North Point Mall, Windward Parkway and downtown Alpharetta's commercial corridors near Ga. 400. Johns Creek, by contrast, grew as a residential community with limited commercial zoning.

Johns Creek's $8,909 figure also falls well below Georgia's statewide rate of $19,869 per resident. Other North Atlanta cities in the comparison: Suwanee at $40,654, Roswell at $37,561, Duluth at $28,281, Sugar Hill at $14,873 and Peachtree Corners at $13,798.

The data puts a dollar figure on the commercial gap that Johns Creek's Town Center initiative aims to close. Medley, a $560 million, 43-acre mixed-use development at McGinnis Ferry Road and Johns Creek Parkway, broke ground in January 2025 and is scheduled for a grand opening on Oct. 29. At full buildout, the project will include 145,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 881 residences, a 150-room boutique hotel and 110,000 square feet of office space. Trader Joe's is already open on site, and the development has surpassed 75% retail leasing.

Medley is one piece of the larger 192-acre Johns Creek Town Center, which the city envisions as a walkable urban core blending housing, dining, offices and green space. The city published its Town Center Vision Plan in May.

At the January 2025 groundbreaking, Mayor John Bradberry called the project a turning point. "A Johns Creek town center was once considered little more than a dream," Bradberry said. "With Boston Scientific almost complete, Creekside Park construction in full swing, and now the official launch of Medley as the premium mixed-use linchpin, our town center is quickly becoming a reality."

Developer Mark Toro, who previously built Avalon in Alpharetta, told the Atlanta Business Chronicle in September 2022 that the median household income within five miles of the Medley site is roughly $200,000. That purchasing power, Toro said, was underserved by the city's existing retail footprint.

Medley's grand opening and the first resident move-ins at its Prelude apartment component are expected in late October and early November.