Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Bits & Bites

Ahead of the planned Starbucks, existing tenant Saigon Basil plans to close their Piedmont Avenue location October 25th. There are reportedly no immediate plans for Saigon Basil to open elsewhere.  

Willie Jewell's Old School Bar-B-Q to open a new 2,800 square foot eatery in the Sprouts Farmers Market-anchored Lexington Circle shopping center on Highway 54 in Peachtree City.  The Jacksonville-based BBQ franchise currently has five locations open with new locations "coming soon" to Aiken, SC and Nashua, N.H.  The Peachtree City location is identified as "Atlanta" on the restaurant's list of new locations.  

Sprouts Farmers Market plans to enter the Woodstock market with a location on Towne Lake Parkway.  The grocer will anchor the Shops at Buckhead Crossing shopping center, replacing what was built as a Publix, and later became a Tuesday Morning.  Tuesday Morning will relocate to an adjacent portion of the center that is being converted into a single, approximately 15,000 square foot space, for the off-price retailer. The Publix, similar in size to the baby Publix stores at both Shallowford Road near I-85 and Peachtree Road near Phipps Plaza, measures just 28,800 square feet. Publix closed the Woodstock location in late 2009, citing "low sales." Sprouts, which entered the Atlanta market in 2014 with a location in Snellville, today operates a dozen locations in the greater metro area. In addition to the Woodstock store, new Sprouts locations are under construction in Decatur, Tucker and West Cobb.

L'Thai Organic Cuisine & Wine Bar will be opening their third location in the coming days.  With existing locations in the east (Tucker) and west (Smyrna), the new restaurant is opening in the north (Peachtree Corners). The restaurant is located at 5450 Peachtree Parkway Suite 7-D, next to Bull Gogi, in the Goodwill-anchored Peachtree Parkway Plaza shopping center.  The roughly 2,300 square foot spot was most recently home to Samui Island Thai Cuisine. 

Barnacle's Sports Bar & Grill has opened its new location on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.  As I reported in April, the new sports bar replaced Buffalo Wild Wings which closed in the roughly 7,000 square foot space in early 2014.  

The Infinite Dining Group is bringing their Sage Social Kitchen and Bar to Buckhead.  Infinite already operates a number of restaurants: Sage Woodfire Tavern in Alpharetta & Dunwoody, Spice Brick Oven Kitchen - Tapas Bar in Alpharetta, and most recently Sage Social Kitchen and Bar in East Cobb, but this will be their first ITP. The new restaurant opens in place of the former Morton's The Steakhouse at 3379 Peachtree Road, between the Westin and W hotels. Morton's closed its approximately 9,500  square foot restaurant in early 2012 with the space sitting vacant in the years since.  The new restaurant is slated to open in early 2017 with a menu featuring such inventive things as "fresh fish, seafood, hand-cut steaks, pastas, burgers, and more." 

Dutchman's Casual Living Stores will open their first Atlanta area location later this fall in Chamblee.  The store will occupy about 2,500 square feet in the renovated former Rust N Dust property at Broad Street and Peachtree Road, near Chamblee City Hall.   The furniture and gifts retailer has existing locations in Highlands and Cornelius, NC and St. Simons Island, GA. 

Tacos & Tequilas Mexican Grill will be opening a new location later this fall in Buford.  The Mexican eatery will open in place of the former 6,620 square foot Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery at The Plaza, just off Buford Drive.  Tilted Kilt, which had been open in the center since 2013, closed this past April after a number a failing health scores.  Tacos has existing locations on Roswell Road in Buckhead, Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown and on Market Place Boulevard in Cumming.  Plans call for the new restaurant to debut by mid- November.  

The Five Guys Burger & Fries at Lindbergh City Center will close this coming Sunday the 16th.  The restaurant, which is corporately owned, is "moving" to Conyers.  The next closest Five Guys to those near Lindbergh is within the Fashion Cafe at Lenox Square. 

A new Smashburger is coming to  Locust Grove at 4856 Bill Gardner Parkway.  The new burger joint will join Verizon Wireless in the two tenant building which recently replaced a former gas station.  Current Smashburger locations include Buckhead, Alpharetta, Kennesaw and Johns Creek. A Smashburger location in Sandy Springs closed late last year and has since been replaced by an at&t store. 


A new bar and small plate joint called Foxtrot Liquor Bar has quietly opened at 45 13th Street in midtown. The new business occupies the former Cosmo Lava/Cosmopolitan, and is open Monday through Saturday starting at 5PM ( Fridays open at 4PM).  Chef Tyler See, formerly of Murphy's and Wrecking Bar, helms the kitchen.


Bojangles' celebrated the grand opening of their newest location yesterday in Morrow. The new restaurant is operated by the Trickum Ops, LLC franchise group which already operates six other Bojangles' in the greater metro Atlanta area.  The new Bojangles' is located at 7340 Jonesboro Road, adjacent to a relatively new Gen III QuikTrip, not far from Southlake Mall.    


Atlanta's first Burgerim franchise is bound for midtown. Launched in Israel in 2008, the concept entered the U.S. market in 2013 with a restaurant in West Hollywood. The midtown Atlanta restaurant will be at the Shop at Metropolis on Peachtree Street.  The restaurant will occupy a 2,700 square foot space behind Taco Mac on Peachtree Place. Interestingly, Burgerim stores typically measure 800 SF to 2,500 SF, "with a sweet spot of 1,500 SF," meaning that the slightly hidden Atlanta location will be among the bigger units they've opened.  Burgerim, who's tagline is "always more than one," specializes in mini-burgers, about 2.8 ounces each, in a variety of protein options.  Decatur, Alpharetta and Sandy Springs are reportedly being targeted for additional Burgerim restaurants. Given the failure of New York's Five Napkin Burger and evos, both in Midtown, it will be interesting to see how this over-sized mini burger operation fares.  A video explaining the Burgerim concept can be found here.

9 comments:

jeff a. taylor said...

So what was the Burgerim pitch to franchisees -- White Castle, but upscale? I don't get the concept at all. The LA outpost is evidently getting $13 for 3 sliders (8.4oz total), fries, and a drink. Any topping outside of house sauce, lettuce, tomato & onions adds 50 cents. I just don't see it.

AJ said...

@ Jeff Taylor - you had me at White Castle!

Anonymous said...

Yet another nail in the coffin for Lindbergh City Center. I've seen so many places open and close there over the years but I don't think there's anything left except the generic chains like Taco Mac and Dunkin Donuts. So many empty vacant spaces there right now. It's embarrassing to look at. And the worst thing is, no one gives a damn about fixing it. It's been like this for years and no one has tried to do anything to fix the parking situation at Lindbergh to make it easier for one to patronize businesses there. I thought there was going to be some big transit oriented development there. That's what they were talking about for years. We have the pricey apartments but nothing else. An epic fail on the city's part, on MARTA's part. Blame LAZ Parking as well and their ridiculous parking scheme where you have to get tickets validated at machines that never work. Just embarrassing all the way around.

Anonymous said...

Burgerim - I'm excited. The menu looks great. Hope it lives up to the hype. East Cobb needs something like this. I'd also like a Burger King in my area. Yum!

Anonymous said...

We used to go to the LoneHorn at Lindbergh but stopped going because of the parking situation. What a waste. Could be a great place.

InAtl said...

The coffee place SIP is good, they are at Lindbergh.

Anonymous said...

What exactly is this so called parking situation? (asking honestly because I haven't been).

Is it the Atlanta-typical "I want my easy surface lot and I expect it to be free"? or is it poorly designed? What's the deal?

kh9142 said...

I've never had an issue parking there-- you park in a deck, and get your ticket validated, and leave. Doesn't cost a thing and there's always parking available. Not sure what their issue is...

Anonymous said...

What I didn't like about the Lindbergh parking deck was the last few times I went to Longhorn for dinner it took 20 minutes to get out of the parking deck.

At the time parking was free for the 1st 2 hours but not knowing it would take 20 minutes to get out of the parking deck we had to pay. The cashiers were very rude as well. Haven't been back there in a while so not sure if it's still like this.

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