Bonus Bits & Bites

Steel City Pops opened their Austin, Texas location this past Wednesday and plans to open their new Atlanta area brick & mortar location, in downtown Decatur, by the end of the month.  The new shop is in addition to the Birmingham-based company's pop cart locations at Atlantic Station and at The Shops Buckhead Atlanta.  Sources say that the company has plans for as many as two additional Atlanta area locations in the coming years.  

A new Bojangles' is planned for East Lake Parkway near Highway 155 in McDonough.

Coton Colors by Laura Johnson is coming to Buckhead Court this fall.  The new gift and home decor store will occupy about 3,200 square feet of the former Diazo Specialty Blueprint space. (Diazo moved a few miles north to the former Hancock Fabrics space in Cornerstone Square shopping center.)  Tallahassee-based Coton Colors has two existing stores, one in Tallahassee and the other in Tampa, Florida.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reported last week that Filo's at Chastain Square in Buckhead had been sold and would be converted to a poke restaurant.  Despite the restaurant staying open a few days past the sale date as a Greek eatery, Filo's has now closed with a small handwritten sign announcing that a poke place is opening soon. 

A new women's clothing store, Jilli Boutique, is now open in Chastain Square on Roswell Road in north Buckhead. 

The AJC reports that The Freakin Incan, a food truck turned brick-and-mortar restaurant in Roswell, will open a second location on Main Street in Tucker at the beginning of October.  The Peruvian restaurant will open in place of M572 which closed late last month after about two years in business.   The new location will have a similar menu to the Roswell restaurant, with some additional dishes, according to owner Mikiel Arnold. The 16-seat bar in Tucker will enable the new restaurant to focus on broadening its alcohol program, including pisco sours, Peruvian rums, South American wines and domestic beers.

Retailer H&M plans to expand their already large store at Atlantic Station into what the company calls a "flagship." The expansion, planned to be completed by the 2018 holiday shopping season, will increase the store from about 26,000 to about 40,000 square feet.    This majority of the expansion will come from the “alley” that is between the current H&M and the former Z-Gallerie building.  The "alley" will be enclosed and added to the current H&M and will be built up two levels to join the store.  (Z-Gallerie recently opened a new store on Atlantic Drive near Publix).  The look of the store will be a departure from the “main street” look of the majority of the center, with H&M instead bringing their global flagship look to the newly enlarged store.  The current store is reportedly already the best performing store in the Southeast.  

Current

Future 

Willy’s Mexicana Grill plans to opens its highly anticipated new restaurant near Northlake Mall on Tuesday, September 12.  The new Willy's joins Aspen Dental and a relocated Starbucks with a drive-thru in the newly developed property on the site of a former Wells Fargo bank branch. To celebrate the opening, Willy's is giving away a free burrito and drink to the first 50 guests on opening day! 

European grocer Lidl plans to finally open their first Georgia store next Thursday, September 14.  The store is located on Alexander Drive in Augusta and is one of few stores the expanding retailer has had approved in Georgia.  

Decaturish reports that Truman, a relatively new bar in Decatur Square, has closed.  Truman, which opened last year in place of Colbeh, reportedly announced the closure via their facebook.    

Tucker-based Resurgens Bank is now CharterBank, following West Point-based Charter Financial Corporation's June acquisition of Resurgens.  Resurgens Bank branches in Tucker in the former Fuddruckers, and in Decatur on West Ponce de Leon Avenue, now sport the CharterBank moniker.

A number of observant ToNeTo Atlanta readers pointed out how ill-advised the rechristening of The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead to The Whitley actually is.  There is currently a luxury high rise apartment under construction a stone's throw away from The Ritz property, called The Whitley! Wood Partners is erecting their 22-story, 267-unit apartment tower overlooking Phipps Plaza, off Wieuca Road, situated between The Ritz-Carlton Residences and The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead. Given how confusing it can be for guests unfamiliar with the area who end up at the Buckhead property instead of downtown, or direct mail to the wrong property or are dropped off at the Residence tower by a suburban uber driver, you'd think HEI could have chosen a more unique name.  The Massell?  The Chastain?  The Habersham?  

Monck Mason has closed at The Shops Buckhead Atlanta. The upscale men's boutique which opened at the struggling center this past December, quietly closed earlier this week. 

 Wayne, New Jersey-based toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us, which also operates the Babies ‘R’ Us retail chain, has hired the law firm Kirkland & Ellis to assist with the restructuring of its debt of approximately $400 million, according to a report by CNBC.  The retailer, which continues to struggle with the rise of ecommerce powerhouse Amazon.com and others, has been hit hard by shifts in consumer habits.  In recent years the retailer has closed a number of stores, including Tucker and Buckhead locally.