Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Bits & Bites


Village Taqueria on West Village Place in Smyrna has changed its name to Jose's Not Here.  Diaz Foods founder Rene Diaz and his wife Barbarella originally opened the Mexican eatery in 2007 as Lime Taqueria & Tequila Bar. Lime Fresh Mexican Grill (a subsidiary of Ruby Tuesday) entered the Atlanta market in 2012 and challenged the Diaz's "Lime" trademark with regards to use in a Mexican eatery, forcing the name change to Village Taqueria.  (Less than eighteen months after opening, all three Limes closed in Atlanta.)   In conjunction with the name change, Jose's Not Here has added a number of new menu items like  "“Pig Ear Nachos” (strips of real pig ear, quesadilla cheese, cabbage, radish, jalapenos & sour cream, topped with sunny side egg and chimichurri sauce) and “Calamar al Limon” (Chargrilled calamari with tomato, cilantro, salsa and chimichurri -served at room temperature)."

The Junior League of Atlanta will soon relocate its "Nearly New Shop" thrift store from Howell Mill Square (next to Kroger) to Toco Hill shopping center.  Their current store is 8200 square feet,  Before Howell Mill, the store was located in an earlier incarnation of Lindbergh Plaza. The new store is slated to open July 23rd. August 2nd.  

A new location of EZ One Price Cleaners,  which offers dry cleaning for  $1.99, will open in "two to three months" in Sandy Springs.  The new location will be behind the Walgreens at Marshalls Plaza at the northern endcap of the ALDI-anchored Cornerstone Square on Roswell Road.  The first EZ One Price Cleaners opened last year on Roswell Road near The Fresh Market in North Buckhead.  

Hardees is close to opening its new location in Kennesaw at ITT Tech Parkway and Jiles Road.  This will mark one of the chain's newest, ground-up locations to open in metro Atlanta. 

Bluemercury recently celebrated the grand opening of its new location in Buckhead, marking the chain's re-entry into the Atlanta market.  The new store, located between Van Michael Salon and The North Face at the Whole Foods Market-anchored Buckhead Marketplace shopping center on West Paces Ferry Road, occupies the former Sage clothing store.  Bluemercury's original location opened at Perimeter Mall in 2008,  but closed a little over a year later. Bluemercury is similar in some ways to Sephora and Ulta, but feels more boutique-y with more hard-to-find and smaller lines represented.  The chain was started in Georgetown, Washington D.C. in 1999 by wife and husband Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Jon Beck.  The chain has grown to about 50 locations, most of which are concentrated in the northeast.  


F&H Restaurant Group says it will open its new Real Fix Pizzeria July 26 in historic downtown Roswell.  I first reported the planned pizzeria last September.  

Blast 900 is closing its Dunwoody location.  The fitness club is reportedly not being offered a lease renewal and will close 7.27.  The club's other location at East Andrews in Buckhead will remain open.  

ALDI is opening a new location in Suwanee.  The new ALDI store will open at the Village at Noble Farms on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.  The roughly 17,000 square foot grocery will  occupy a number of smaller spaces, both vacant and occupied, currently within the center.  

Boston Proper will soon open at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, marking its first store in metro Atlanta.  The store will open on the mall's first floor, across from the new Microsoft store.  Based in Boca Raton, Boston Proper was purchased by Fort Myers, Florida-based Chico's FAS Inc. in 2011.   According to their website, Boston Proper currently operates nine locations, eight of which are in Florida.  In addition to the new Atlanta store, the site indicates new locations are also coming to Destin and Charlotte.  Boston Proper "is an omni-channel retailer offering unique, high-end women’s apparel and accessories" and has been in business for over 25 years.  The business started as a catalog company, a selling channel that is reportedly still effective for the company.  When it opens, Perimeter Mall will be home to all four Chico's FAS Inc. brands: Chico's, White House | Black Market, Soma Intimates and Boston Proper.  

Penn Station East Coast Subs is officially open at The Village at Druid Hills at North Druid Hills & Briarcliff Roads. Business partners Neil Viljoen and Joe Quatro signed a five unit development agreement and plan to open an additional four locations in metro Atlanta over the next three years.  

Starbucks will soon close its freestanding location at the corner of 7th and Peachtree Streets and relocate (temporarily) to the bottom of the Viewpoint condo building.  Starbucks will occupy suite 2, aka the former home of Evos. Starbucks' current home, originally a Krystal, is being demolished to make way for a new condo project.  When finished, "Seventh" will be nine stories with "23 spectacular luxury residences and penthouses."  Starbucks will move back to the new property when it's ready and occupy a portion of the planned 4,700 square feet of street level retail space. 


Bojangles' will soon begin construction on a new unit in Lilburn.  The new freestanding, roughly 4,000 square foot restaurant will be built on a nearly 1.5 acre parcel on Lawrenceville Highway near Harmony Grove Road, adjacent to a relatively new AutoZone.  A new Bojangles' is slated to open next month, also on Lawrenceville Highway, but in Tucker, near Northlake Parkway.  Other new Bojangles' are under construction in Lithonia (on Panola Road), in Snellville (on Stone Mountain Highway) and in Canton (on East Cherokee Highway).

Asheville, North Carolina-based Chai Pani will open a new, as yet un-named, smaller concept at Ponce City Market. 
Opening in the "Central Food Hall" in a "stall," the new concept will likely be similar to, but not necessarily a "copy" of, Chai Pani's Decatur and Asheville locations also with the addition of an Indian spice market.  Chai Pani features a variety of Indian street food like "chaat" or snacks, like small sandwiches and finger foods.  A recent event at Ponce City Market, where a few eateries sampled their food, included Chai Pani with both lamb and chicken burgers. While the Chai Pani representative chose not to confirm exactly what would be offered at the City Market restaurant, he did indicate that offerings like the burgers would likely be on the menu, given that they chose not to offer them in Decatur as they are situated next to Farm Burger.  

In case you missed it, Regency Centers confirmed earlier this week that The Fresh Market will in fact anchor Loehmann's Plaza at North Druid Hills and Briarcliff Roads.  The center has also been renamed "Brighten Park."  The Fresh Market will occupy the former Loehmann's 24,400 square feet,  and should open next summer.  I originally reported The Fresh Market was close to signing a lease for this space in April

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For anyone who's been to Chapel Hill, NC, the name strongly suggests the iconic "He's Not Here."

Anonymous said...

The Cleaners may be going in behind the WG, but that's not part of Marshall's Plaza.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully the Village Taqueria owner does a better job of hiring better service and watches food prep this time. I found a bug in my food when I ate there.

Anonymous said...

Agree with the comment about Village Taqueria--last time we went there it was so slow our meal was comped (good thing, because it didn't taste very good either). :(

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