Monday, January 14, 2013

National Names Joining the Party at Plaza Fiesta

Plaza Fiesta on Buford Highway is adding a number of new national outlets.

The Mall was opened in 1970 as Buford-Clairmont Mall and was renamed Outlet Square, and later, Oriental Mall.  Today the mall is known as Plaza Fiesta.

Once home to  Eckerd Drugs, Marshalls, Winn Dixie, Burlington Coat Factory (originally Woolco) and rare outlet stores of both Muse's and HiFi Buys along with a movie theater, the center has since become a Latin / Hispanic themed center and has thrived.  Dreamz ATL nightclub replaced the movie theater, and more recently the nightclub itself changed, and is now known as The Mansion Elan. 

What may have been Marshalls' first store in Atlanta dating to 1978, their store at the center finally was shuttered in 2011.  Marshalls "relocated" to TOWN Brookhaven later in 2011.

ROSS Dress for Less will open in place of Marshalls.  Offering more economically priced items to value oriented consumers, ROSS is a good fit for the the center.  As many of my ITP retail fans may remember, ROSS replaced a failed Old Navy at North DeKalb Mall, and has lasted quite some time.

Shoppers World (not to be confused with Shopper's World, the Framingham, Massachusetts shopping center) will open in a portion of the former Burlington Coat Factory.  The Plaza Fiesta location will be the third Atlanta area store for the New York based retailer.  The retailer whose tagline is "Always New, Always For Less!" currently has Atlanta area locations at Camp Creek Marketplace and Southlake Pavillion. 

Planet Fitness just opened adjacent to Shopper's World, sharing the former Burlington space.   The New Hampshire based  value oriented workout franchise opened  last February at  nearby Embry Village on Chamblee-Tucker Road, and this past December, the company celebrated their 600th location.  Planet Fitness separates itself from larger competitors like LA Fitness and Lifetime Fitness by offering fewer perks like juice bars and childcare, and instead offering monthly memberships for as little as ten bucks.

The mall also recently added new signage (in photo, bottom right) to both Clairmont Road and Buford Highway.

Should Gwinnett Place Mall attempt to replicate Plaza Fiesta and be almost entirely Asian focused?  Will ROSS and Shoppers World succeed where Burlington and Marshalls didn't?  Are you a fan Planet Fitness and their streamlined fitness clubs?  

Weigh in. Be heard. Comment below.

9 comments:

mindspringyahoo said...

'Undercover Boss' about two weeks ago featured the CEO of 'Mood Music' (it's like Muzak) and it showed him helping a worker install it at the Planet Fitness at Embry Hills.

It was quite exciting. Hard to tell when it took place, may have been 4-5 months or so ago.

Haven't been to the new PF, but a friend likes it. There used to be a gym at Northeast Plaza and it was a PF around 1999-2003 or so.

Carl Black said...

Damn, you're good. I'm always learning something.

Atlantan99 said...

@Carl,

I try to do that every time ;)

Thanks for your readership!

Anonymous said...

I’m unsure whether Gwinnett Place Mall could succeed in trying to go almost entirely Asian. I would think the rent would be too high for Mom and Pop businesses, as most Asian ones are. And I don’t know if Asians here would cruise a mall, as there might be a cultural impediment to that. However, a hybrid, with both Asian and Hispanic stores (both cultures are heavy in the area), plus making the entire second floor and/or empty department store spaces into housing (and Gwinnett letting MARTA run trains up the power line right of way) could work.

Anonymous said...

What makes Ross think that they'll survive when Marshalls and Burlington Coat Factory did not? All of those stores draw the same type of clientele.

Unknown said...

What is going on down the street at Northeast Plaza? They have signs saying (please pardon our dust while we create a better shopping experience,) but there doesn't seem to be anything going on their. And 'G' mart was a huge disappointment. They changed the name to Mercado de Pueblo. I was hoping it would be something more like "h" mart.

Atlantan99 said...

@Anon RE: ROSS.

I've only shopped ROSS a handful of times but in those experiences, I've always seen cheaper, generic clothing and assorted merchandise. Marshalls on the other hand carries higher end goods, especially in their Buckhead, Brookhaven and Dunwoody stores. Burlington, not sure myself, I would have thought they would be perfect. They did last quite some time.

Thanks for the comments and for reading the blog.

Atlantan99 said...

@Unknown RE: Northeast Plaza,

Brixmor (the property owner) apparently has plans for a facelift of sorts at the center. I too was unimpressed with the G Mart / Mercado del Pueblo re-boot.

I remember when that plaza had Drug Emporium, Big Lots, Movie Gallery, J.C. Penney, Mars Music and the movie theater... used to be nice. I hope they plans include trying to add more national brands.

Thanks for the comment and for reading the blog.

Anonymous said...

To anon: Gwinnett Place Mall

Actually, I visited Houston not too long ago, and they're pretty heavily populated by Asians and they have a huge mall there, consisting of stores similar to those around Hong Kong Mall off of Jimmy Carter, but all in one place, under one roof. It was actually quite neat! And I think GPM could do something similar and work out.

- Asian Anon :)

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