Thursday, April 22, 2010

FLIP, Far From A Flop, Still Not Final In Buckhead

FLIP Burger Boutique, featuring “fine dining between two buns,” is in serious discussions for a Buckhead location. After opening on Howell Mill Road in West Midtown in the Fall of 2008, and in Birmingham, Alabama this past December, Buckhead was one of many new locations mentioned by chef and Creative Director Richard Blais. In all honesty, Blais said and says a lot that does not come to fruition in the time stated, or at all, so you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. While I earlier mentioned the possibility that the Buckhead Plaza development adjacent to the St. Regis might be of interest to FLIP, it seems their interest has remained in a stand alone site not far away. Their favored location, the currently closing Blockbuster Video in Tuxedo Festival at the corner of Piedmont and Roswell Roads, is a uniquely shaped building with high traffic and great demographics. While co-owners Barry Mills and Ron Stewart have had their sights on this location, there is no lease in place nor has an agreement been reached. The shopping center itself is currently being redeveloped as occupancy had sagged in recent years.Blockbuster Video, which itself is on the brink of bankruptcy, announced the closure of a number of locations nationwide, Tuxedo Plaza being one of them. With a liquidation sale currently in progress, the store is set to close permanently May 15th. If a lease is signed for FLIP by the closure, there is hope they could open by their target, September. If, on the other hand no deal is reached by the 15th, I’m told the partners will move forward on a site they have selected in Washington D.C. and put Buckhead on hold. With FLIP’s prices, it’s no wonder they do a reported $70K in weekly sales, though I personally much prefer Grindhouse Killer Burgers. ToNeTo Atlanta

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6 comments:

Max said...

While they both do specialize in burgers, Flip and Grindhouse are two VERY different concepts. Flip is a standalone, sit-down restaurant with a full bar and a much more extensive list of burger and side choices. Grindhouse is essentially a lunch counter. It is not open at night, doesn't have tables, and offers limited menu options (but everything is terrific!). That being said, I'm a big fan of both spots for completely different reasons and don't think it's a very fair comparrison, at least not apples-to-apples. Just wanted to share my opinion!

Atlantan99 said...

Hey Max,

You make a valid comparison to the two restaurants as they are now. As I previously announced, Grindhouse is planning on opening a second, full service location by years end. With the delays at FLIP, both could open around the same time. Currently I'd say there is a better than 50% chance the new Grindhouse will be in the midtown / SoBu area. Should be interesting...

Thanks for the comment and reading the blog

Juliea said...

The Blockbuster building would be a great site. That whole shopping center should become a restaurant row.

Anonymous said...

That is a lot of competing restaurants. You have Hal's, Italian Market, Tin Lizzy's.

That building is also in need of a lot of repairs. I hope they thought this through before signing a lease. It needs a new roof, heating and air conditioning systems and their is a major rodent problem from all the trash dumpsters right out back. Not a good thing for a restaurant.

Anonymous said...

I do not think the location in the Tuxedo market would be a good one. Very few businesses that have moved in there have made it long term and it is extremely difficult to get in and out of that complex unless you are already on that side of the road. And taking a left on to Roswell to get out of there and head back to Peachtree? No chance in hell. You have to know the back way out through Piedmont to stand a chance. I live less than a mile away from that shopping center and avoid it at all costs due to the traffic and difficulty to exit the center. Even Flip wouldn't make it worth it. Plus, that center is so run down. They've been making some changes to the facade but it's still a dump. FLIP would do better in a nicer center with better traffic control.

ATLNOLE said...

I'm sure a couple signs pointing the direction over to Habersham to connect to Piedmont wouldn't be too difficult, Tin Lizzy's has a million parking signs in the area so they would fit right in!

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