Monday, July 30, 2012

North Buckhead Moe's Gone South

Atlanta-based Moe's Southwest Grill has closed its Powers Ferry Square location.  The restaurant was stripped of its exterior signage and basically all FF&E ( Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment-see above) inside when I stopped by over the weekend.  It's unclear to me when the closure took placebut the space is already being used as a staging and planning area for other work in the center.  Sources tell me that the restaurant may have closed as much as a month ago but I'm certain that the signage was only recently removed.  My source also indicated that the closure was "overnight," and that though the restaurant opened as a franchised location, it had come under corporate control before its closure.

The shopping center will soon welcome a host of new stores & restaurants including Petco, Frolic (renovation), Panera Bread and Uncle Maddio's Pizza Joint.

Petco will open in the remaining portion of the former Pearl store (Road Runner Sports opened last year in the other portion)  Panera Bread and Uncle Maddios Pizza Joint are both opening in a newly constructed building adjacent to the existing Shell gas station.  I first broke news of Panera's planned opening back in 2010 and construction finally began earlier this year.  From the looks of it, Panera should be open in about a month while Uncle Maddio's look like they likely won't open until closer to the end of the year.  Maddio's is a new(ish) fast casual pizza joint started by former Moe's executive Matt Andrew and current Moe's franchisee Tony Lewis. 

This Moe's closure is the first Moe's that I've known to have ever closed and not relocated.  Moe's closed its Phipps Plaza location to make way for the Lego Discovery Center but re-opened near the new attraction. Moe's freestanding former Burger King location on Peachtree in Brookhaven was demolished to make way for TOWN Brookhaven.  The chain later re-opened an in-line location within the development.

The very first Moe's opened in late 2000 at 2915 Peachtree Road, across from The Peach Shopping Center in a former Mevin & Elmo's bagel shop. The restaurant was started by serial entrepreneur Martin Sprock who sold the business to Roark Capital in 2007.  Today the chain includes over 400 location in 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Do you know of a Moe's that has closed and not re-opened or relocated?  What should open in place of the burrito joint?  Do you think metro newcomers Lime Fresh or Barberito's will take market share from Moe's who has nearly 80 locations in Georgia?

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've never understood why so many people go to Moe's. Have never liked it. I think more will close especially if competition heats up. I think Chipolte offers a much higher quality product.

AtlCREChris said...

Your source is wrong - their lease expired and they vacated..not 'over night'.

Anonymous said...

The one on pleasant hill and club drive in Gwinnett closed.

Anonymous said...

Moe's in general is a far cry now from what they were like when they first opened. The food is terrible, the stores dirty. I won't patronize them anymore and I did like them years ago.

Anonymous said...

They've been building that Panera Bread for like 6 months; who knows if it will ever open. They built the "Twin Peaks" nearby in about two weeks so it's hard to figure why the Panera is taking so long.

Moe's has been closed for at least a few weeks. I like Moe's but it sure seemed like I got food poisoning there a few days before it closed.

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