Sunday, May 29, 2016

Bits & Bites

Beauty Master, a growing chain of beauty supply products, is opening a giant new store at Gwinnett Place Mall.  The beauty supply chain will occupy the former JCPenney.  The store will supposedly open "within two months."  One reader with whom I spoke in preparing this post identified Beauty Master as being like Sally Beauty Supply... but "bigger and better." Beauty Master has a number of other area locations including stores in at Camp Creek Marketplace in East Point and Greenbriar Crossing near Greenbriar Mall. The new Gwinnett Place store will be the chain's first in the the northern suburbs of Atlanta.  
The new Grindhouse Killer Burgers in Decatur quietly opened this past weekend.  The restaurant is located on North McDonough Street, behind Chick-fil-A, and across from Decatur High School.   Owner Alex Brounstein plans to open another Grindhouse next year in the former Bar One on Memorial Drive in Grant Park.  Other existing Grindhouse locations include restaurants in midtown, Athens and at the airport.   

A new, approximately 3,000 square foot Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is coming to Kennesaw Marketplace in Kennesaw.  The new center, currently under construction at the corner of Cobb Parkway and Ernest Barrett Parkway, will be anchored by Academy Sports & Outdoors and Whole Foods Market.  Freddy's recently opened a new location in Sugarloaf Marketplace, another Fuqua Development project.  Another Freddy's is currently under construction on Scenic Highway in Snellville at Park Place.  Freddy's also recently broke ground on a new freestanding restaurant in Cartersville on  E. Main Street, across the road from Kohl’s in Main Street Shopping Center. 

As I indicated previously, Rize Artisan Pizza has signed a lease for suite 1000 in the new Poncey-Highland project "675 North Highland." The new restaurant will occupy an approximately 3,600 square foot space on the end of the complex that will provide it an outdoor, covered patio as well. 

A new branch of First Intercontinental Bank is coming to Live Oak Parkway in Norcross.  The Doraville-based bank will open behind an existing Wells Fargo bank, near the intersection of Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Live Oak Parkway.  Aside from Doraville, the bank has locations in Duluth, Suwanee and Johns Creek.  

After a number of delays, Barber Bistro quietly opened on Cobb Parkway, not far from Dobbins Air Reserve Base.  The restaurant and barber shop opened a few months ago, but I just recently passed it and confirmed that it is, in fact, still open.  

Upcoming Ponce City Market entertainment venue City Winery has again pushed its opening.  

Due to further unavoidable construction delays, we've been told the Certificate of Occupancy will be delayed at least one week. We're monitoring the construction site daily, so we can open as soon as it's ready. Also, we'd like to give a special thanks to the City of Atlanta for their help and assistance. All shows and events before June 12th will be rescheduled at City Winery for a later date or relocated in Atlanta.  Updates for subsequent shows will be announced on Facebook and Twitter as well as directly communicated to ticketholders via email.  All current ticketholders for shows affected by the delay will receive two house seats to a non-sold out City Winery Atlanta show of their choosing and a $50 City Winery gift card.   We're very sorry for the delay and can't wait to show Atlanta our finished space soon”.

Irvine, California-based Taco Bell recently revealed that its upcoming location in University House on Spring Street in midtown will not be a typical location.  The new location will instead be a "Taco Bell Cantina," an upscale test concept from the quick serve chain aimed at better connecting with millennial consumers.  Existing Taco Bell Cantina locations (San Francisco and Chicago) offer free WiFi, multiple beer options and an upscale setting.  It would seem as though the company is trying to incorporate some of what it learned from its failed test concept, U.S. Taco Co., which closed in Huntington Beach last summer, into the new "Cantina" concept.  

A freestanding two-story building at the corner of Lawrenceville Highway and Hugh Howell Road in Tucker was recently demolished  for a new development.  In place of what was Eastern Motor Cars and was later United Motor Cars, a new building is being developed that will house Chipotle Mexican Grill and possibly two or three other tenants.  

Berkeley-based Cinnaholic plans to open its new Atlanta eatery next Thursday, June 2nd.  Cinnaholic's co-founder Shannon Radke was shown arriving in Atlanta on the eatery's Atlanta facebook page.  Cinnaholic Atlanta is located in the Edgewood Retail District on Moreland Avenue, not far from Little 5 Points.  Industry leader and Atlanta-based Cinnabon thrives in high traffic malls and airports, Cinnaholic is new and taking a huge risk in banking on the traffic of Edgewood Retail for a product that is, to many, an impulse purchase.  Daryl Dollinger, co-founder of Moe's Southwest Grill and President of Big Game Brands, is also reportedly a "partner" in Cinnaholic.  Dollinger, along with Spencer Reid of Great Wraps, are both partners in Atlanta Franchise Group which had been working with both Sublime Doughnuts and Cinnaholic on their expansion.  

Asheville's Tupelo Honey Cafe plans to open its new Sandy Springs location June 20th.  The restaurant is located in the new Gateway project on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.  

4 comments:

Ham said...

The new Beauty Master Store seems like sort of mixed blessing for Gwinnett Place. While an occupied store is better than an empty one I’m not sure this place will improve the mall either. This is really just another sign of how far a once thriving commercial district has fallen. However, it will provide some income for mall management which they can use to hire more security.

Anonymous said...

I was surprised to see that ROC House Fitness had closed.

AJ said...

"Excuse me, but there's a hair in my food." "Well, it's yours. I'm giving you a haircut. What do you expect?" I just don't comprehend this concept...

ImAndy said...

The demographics really don't add up for Gwinnett Place I just don't understand it I would think it may do better in Lawrenceville or somewhere else. My only guess is they bought the building so cheap and are just banking people will make it a destination.

To the previous poster, the mall didn't own this building to collect any leasing and it was being marketed for sale only.

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