Goodwill Industries of North Georgia will anchor the renovated center with both a retail store / donation center as well as a career center. The store will likely not open until 2015, but Goodwill's involvement is sure to interest other businesses in opening within the center.
The new Goodwill store will be built in place of the Cub Foods but I'm told the company will also have a new, possibly two story building, erected in a presently unused portion of the parking lot (closest to Krystal) It's likely the retail store and donation center will occupy the central space while administrative offices and the career center occupy the new building in the parking lot.
As of now, a new hookah lounge and nail salon are slated to join the tenant mix.
Coming renovations to the aging shopping center on Lawrenceville Highway, just (northeast) of North Druid Hills Road, will demolish the unsightly mess that quite honestly resembles the aftermath of a bombing. This includes both the former anchor space, and a number of adjacent spaces. The anchor space for many years was a Cub Foods grocery store left vacant when the grocer exited the Atlanta market in 2001, closing 17 locations.
Madras Woodlands, an Indian eatery, was for a time open on the far left of the center, but is closed and abandoned today. Glamour Beauty Salon, Jade Events and Bombay Bazaar are also abandoned, and add to the eyesore that is the space surrounding the former Cub Foods. I don't recall the specifics, but a businessman was said to have had plans to redevelop the former Cub Foods as a Indian dance and meeting hall a number of years ago, but after demolishing the Cub Foods space, either he pulled out, or ran out of money, or a combination of the two, and the space has sat vacant and crumbling since that time.
Overall the center has skewed more ethnic, Indian especially, in recent years, with multiple Indian eateries and other related businesses either currently in or having previously been within the center. Madras Bhavan operates in a rebranded Saravanaa Bhavan location, and is likely one of the most popular eateries in the center. Lucky China and a European Market both draw small crowds as well and will surely benefit from the added foot traffic the new Goodwill will bring.
Nacho Mama's Street Taqueria is a relatively new addition to the center and appears to be gaining a local following with its nachos, tacos, burritos and other Mexican fare.
The area around the center has seen renewed commercial interest. Zaxby's opened a new freestanding restaurant on North Druid Hills in front of North DeKalb Mall, while closer to the mall, Golden Corral also opened a restaurant in an outparcel of Macy's parking lot. Decatur Estate & Way Back Antiques was displaced by the upcoming Walmart takeover at Suburban Plaza and found a new home in a freestanding building across the street from the Home Depot on Lawrenceville Highway. Adjacent to Home Depot, Advance Auto Parts opened earlier this year in place of a shuttered Mrs. Winner's.
Goodwill Industries is no stranger to second generation former grocery stores, but a complete rebuild is a new and clearly more expensive avenue for the group to expand and grow.
Goodwill's Norcross location on Peachtree Parkway and Buford location on Buford Highway are both former Winn-Dixie stores. Goodwill has also repurposed former Stein Mart stores on Jones Bridge Road in Johns Creek, Holcomb Bridge Road in Alpharetta and on Roswell Road in north Buckhead into its thrift stores.
Last year, Goodwill purchased the site of a former antique market on Piedmont Road near I-85 for $2.1M to construct a new store and donation center. The store has yet to be built, although a donation trailer is located on the site in addition to billboards announcing its arrival. According to a Goodwill source, this store should open by the third quarter of next year.
3 comments:
I've heard that goodwill is the aerospace industry as well. Is this true?
When your anchor tenants are Goodwill and the Department of Labor, you really should just rename it Third World Mall.
Just spoke with owner of one of the business owners there & it is anticipated to be a wonderful improvment to the are with much 'dressing up' of the whole parking lot and walking areas. We look foward to this being a great success, an asset to the community.
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