Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Bits & Bites

City of Atlanta building permits confirm that Fendi does plan to relocate and expand into a portion of the recently closed Ralph Lauren store in the "Luxury Wing" at Lenox Square.  ToNeTo reported earlier this month that Fendi was eyeing the space for an expansion of their existing store.  Permits indicate that Fendi intends to take over 2,735 square feet of the former Ralph Lauren's overall 5,932 square foot first level space.  Currently, Fendi is located in the main mall corridor, having opened in late 2010.  The newly expanded store is expected to open late this year and will feature a wider selection of the label's men's and ready-to-wear collections.  
The first floor Ralph Lauren space at Lenox Square 
Hibbett Sports has closed its location in the Super Target anchored Roswell Corners shopping center on Woodstock Road in Roswell.  The athletic retailer operated a roughly 5,700 square foot store to the left of Super Target.  

Atlanta-based Wood Partners has renamed its upcoming luxury high-rise behind Phipps Plaza The Huntley.  Originally named The Whitley, the property reportedly adopted the new name in response to the opening of The Whitley, A Luxury Collection Hotel, across the street from Phipps Plaza in place of the former The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead.  The Huntley is expected to begin preleasing next month.  When complete, The Huntley will be 22 stories tall with about 220 units.  

Tampa-based PDQ closed their restaurant in Augusta last month after less than two years in business.  PDQ, which stands for People Dedicated to Quality, serves a menu similar to Zaxby's, with an emphasis on fried chicken tenders.  The Augusta location was located on Washington Road in an outparcel of Washington Crossing shopping center.  As ToNeTo Atlanta reported in 2015, the opening of the Augusta location, which replaced a former Circle K convenience store and gas station, was significantly delayed.  The center re-opened in 2014 after an extensive renovation and was anchored by Whole Foods Market until the grocer closed the store last February.  PDQ said at the time of the closure that they hope  “to find another site in the area where we may be able to relocate our restaurant.”  As it stands now, the only other PDQ in Georgia is also on Washington Road, but in nearby Evans.    

Phipps Plaza will be home to Dance With Me's first studio in the southeast.   Founded by Maks and Val Chmerkovskiy and Tony Dovolani from “Dancing with the Stars,” the dance studio will offer services including private dance lessons, group dance classes and social practice parties , among other offerings.   Dance With Me will open in a 2,757 square foot location beneath Frontgate in the first floor Nordstrom wing.  


Formaggio Mio, the new kosher dairy Italian restaurant opening in place of Broadway Cafe near Toco Hills, currently expects to open Tuesday February 13.   

Our friends at The City Menus reported earlier this week that Stevi B's Pizza Buffet has closed its location in Newnan.  The restaurant, which closed as of January 27, was one of the first locations that Atlanta-based franchise opened.  Franchisee Roger Holtzclaw said the decision to close the restaurant was very difficult, “we’ve been doing this for 18 plus years."  Stevi B's has in recent years seen a number of restaurants closed including those in Johns Creek, Tucker, Marietta, Cumming, Buford and Augusta, among others.  The Stevi B's in Fayetteville, also owned by Holtzclaw, will remain open.  

BurgerFi abruptly closed their Midtown restaurant on Crescent Avenue in the 77 12th project this past Sunday after nearly four years in business.  The North Palm Beach, Florida-based franchise has had a tough time in Atlanta as of late with the chain's Emory Point location having closed last March.  There are still four locations open in metro Atlanta in Lawrenceville, Alpharetta, Kennesaw and downtown in CNN Center.  A fifth location is currently under construction and is expected to open in the coming weeks in Peachtree Corners. The former Emory Point location is expected to reopen later this summer as a second location of Desta Ethiopian Kitchen.  There are no known plans for the former Midtown location.    

Van Michael Salon plans to open their newest salon, Van Michael Men, at The Battery Atlanta this Thursday, February 1.  Described as "The Finest in Men's Grooming," the salon is the first for the Atlanta-based company to be specifically targeted at the male market.  Van Michael has existing salons in Buckhead, Avalon, Sandy Springs, The Forum on Peachtree Parkway, East Cobb, Midtown and Virginia Highland.  

Marietta-based Otter's Chicken plans to launch a food truck in Rome later this week.  "Initially, the food truck will be located on Shorter Avenue in front of Mathis Hardware.  Vic Mitchell, Otter’s Director of Catering and Community Relations, orchestrated the move of the company-owned truck to Rome and engaged food truck veteran James Hall of Sugar Rush Mobile Concessions to manage the operation. “James has tremendous knowledge of the food truck business and we felt this approach would be the best way to introduce our concept to Rome and Northwest Georgia.  Otter’s offers chicken tender meals, chicken wraps, chicken sandwiches, salads and a variety of other menu options and portion sizes, including “tailgate meals” for large parties.  There are existing Otter's locations in West Cobb, Cumberland and Kennesaw.  Owner Will Peterson tells ToNeTo Atlanta that a fourth brick & mortar Otter's Chicken is planned for Acworth later this summer.  

Shane's Rib Shack has closed its restaurant on Peachtree Parkway in Johns Creek/Suwanee. The restaurant was located in an outparcel of the SuperTarget/The Home Depot anchored Brookwood Marketplace shopping center and closed quietly earlier this month. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love PDQ when I travel and see it in a city. Fantastic food and menu choices.

It will never be successful here, though, with people's dedication to Zaxby's. :-(

Anonymous said...

"Ridiculous how much they charge you for extra sauce"

25 cents? Good idea to lay off the fatty extra sauce anyway!

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