Belly General Store, located at the corner of St. Charles and North Highland Avenues in Virginia Highland has closed. The local cafe and market closed quietly last night and will reportedly be replaced soon by another business.
The 2010 Village Roadshow Pictures film starring Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel was partially filmed at Belly. Holly Berenson's (Heigl) bakery Fraiche was depicted as the local bakery in the film. Interestingly, signage that was previously affixed to the building's wall over the front door was never replaced after the filming and instead was placed in the window.
Signage at the business indicates that "Belly is moving" and they are "renovating inside new business (food) coming"
Strangely, there are no building permits on file with the city of Atlanta despite neighboring businesses having indicated that they have already witnessed work going on.
I first got wind of the possible closure over a month ago when word got out that the business had reportedly filed for bankruptcy. In my earlier research into the business, I found it especially odd that Belly seemed to maintain no presence on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and that their web address, (bellystore.com) was inactive.
Local rumors are that a hookah bar & lounge will replace Belly. My opinion is that a hookah bar/lounge might be a tough sell for the neighborhood and that Belly is not actually "moving" anywhere.
5 comments:
Although I'm not surprised (just due to their constantly changing the interior, inconsistent hours and general oddness)... this stinks! I LOVED their bagels and sandwiches. Too bad. So much stuff in vahi/morningside is shutting down.
Aw, man. This was the ATL's best cheese grits. Went there this weekend and noticed it looked not long for the retail world. The marble bar in there was the original soda fountain in the pharmacy. Hoping they are moving.
I tried talking to them about taking over that space for a full service cafe. No such luck. Seemed like a HUGE waste of potential and location. Absolutely not surprised.
Sounds like someone needs to take a trip to Durham and steal everything from Parker & Otis that might work in that space.
Wasn't it owned by the same woman who owned Key Lime? [also closed]
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