GRANTVILLE, Ga. - About 45 miles south of Atlanta, just off Interstate 85, there sit more than 100 vans, once used by Webvan, the Internet grocery delivery company that went bankrupt.
The vans that once rushed fresh produce, expensive cuts of meat and premium ice cream are lined up just across from a service station in a red-clay field, awaiting potential buyers.
``A lot of people stop by to get gas and see them over there and say, 'Oh, Webvan, I really miss you,''' said Ann Long, owner of Ann's Trailer Equipment Sales Inc.
``They act like Webvan going out of business was the biggest disaster in the world. One woman told me that Webvan would even put her groceries in the refrigerator for her.''
Long, whose company is selling and leasing the distinctive, beige vans for Connecticut-based GE Capital Equipment Financing, said most motorists come upon the idle Webvans when they take Exit 35 for fuel or a restroom stop on their way south.
``Some people even take pictures of their children in front of them,'' Long said. ``One little 4-year-old boy looked up at his mom with tears in his eyes and said, 'You mean we won't be getting any more ice cream from these people?'''
Webvan spent hundreds of millions of dollars on equipment and warehouses for markets in Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, the Portland/Seattle area and Southern California before shutting down and filing for bankruptcy.
Long said she originally had 144 of the delivery vans but has cut that to about 114, leasing some of the low-mileage vehicles to companies in New York and Indiana.
``By the spring of this year, I should have most of them leased or sold,'' she said.
Sunday
March 9th, 2025
11:41PM
