Thursday, April 14, 2016

Apparently Shoe Center Does Not Fit Into New Owner's Plans at Toco Hills

Shoe Center closing Toco Hills store.

Shoe Center, a long time Toco Hills footwear retailer, is closing its store.  Shoe Center opened in Toco Hills fourteen years ago and has been popular in the center since. 

Shoe Center carries a wide variety of brands for men, women and children. The store carries a number of brands including Birkenstock, Nike, New Balance, Chaco, Sperry Top-Sider, ecco, Cole Haan, Franco Sarto, Brooks, Clarks and many others.   

My aunt, who lives out of state, always looked forward to her trip to Atlanta to browse the store's better than average selection of "narrow" footwear. 

Shoe Center opened in the approximately 12,400 square foot space in 2002, when prior tenant CVS Pharmacy relocated to a new store at the corner of North Druid Hills and LaVista Roads.  Before CVS, the space was home to Big "B" Drugs.   

I started to hear rumblings of the planned closure earlier in the week with reports of "the entire store on sale."  I confirmed the closure when I visited the store, despite store employees' reluctance to refer to the sale as a "closing sale."  

An email sent Wednesday to patrons of the store further clarified the status. 

Dear loyal customers,   

After serving you the last 14 years, Shoe Center will be closing its doors. Don't worry - we're going to go out BIG!   

Beginning today, our ENTIRE STOCK of mens and ladies dress, casual and athletic shoes will be available to you at unbeatable prices. We are holding nothing back and everything will be priced 25-50-70% OFF! 

Our Facebook fans will be the first to find out as the deals get sweeter and sweeter, so be sure to like our page.

We have truly appreciated your patronage through the years and look forward to seeing your familiar faces very soon. 

Sincerely,  Shoe Center Management & Staff



Sources say the store will close in July.

Although store management would not explicitly confirm it, it's believed the store's closure is directly related to the recent change in ownership of the center. 

Shoe Center stores remain open in Cartersville, Canton and Rome. A store previously closed in College Park.   

Are you sad to see Shoe Center Close?  What would you like to see open in its place?  Who else do you think may be on their way out at Toco Hills?

Please share your thoughts below.  

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The employee I spoke to gave me the impression that the owners of Shoe Center were ready to get out of the business -- meaning ALL of the locations -- and that the closing is unrelated to management changes at the Toco shopping center. But maybe I misunderstood. Will miss that store.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe this store is closing. They really serve a need by carrying a lot of different sizes and widths. There is no other store like it. Very few stores carry narrow widths. This is the only store I can find shoes. I don't like buying on the Internet because it's a hassle to send everything back that doesn't fit. So sad this is closing.

Lady in ATL said...

I'm bummed. I love this shoe store. It is the best place for me to buy my workout tennis shoes! I will have to check out their closing sale.

Anonymous said...

Awesome selection of shoes, and I would have shopped there often... but they had terrible hours. They close at 6 on weekdays, and are open for a mere 4 hours on Sunday. If you need to have a job to actually pay for your shoes, then this is not the store for you.

Anonymous said...

While in the store today I heard a manager telling a long time patron that they were closing because of new property ownership. The patron said, "so you're being kicked out." To which the manager replied, "Not exactly. We came to a lease agreement with the new owners." Whatever that means. Regardless, white tags are 25% off and orange tags were 50% off today. Not for sure how the sale will progress. As another patron said shortly after entering the store, "Even with the discount the shoes are still priced high."

Anonymous said...

Love this store. So many of the stores I like are closing this year. First North Dekalb Macy's, Lucy Goosey Gifts and Oakgrove Dollar General. Then today just saw that Bena's Hallmark in Tucker is closing. Not sure when it happened but Hallmark at Perimeter Mall is now closed as well.

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