Thursday, December 8, 2016

Another Star Falls at Toco Hills With the Planned Closure of Famous Pub


Longstanding watering hole to close. 

Famous Puba Toco Hills landmark, will close later this month after 30 years in business.  I first got word of the planned closure late last week with the news officially confirmed yesterday on the restaurant's official Facebook page:

"Toco Hills Dear Customers, We want to inform you that Famous Pub is closing after 30 years. Thank you for every single day that you spent at our pub. Because of your love and support, our pub was neighborhood's favorite one during years. Thank you for letting us be part of your lives for so many years! We will have Blow out parties on 17th and 18th of December and you all are invited!  Thank you all for the experiences that we've had with you!"

The restaurant will have two parties on the 17th and 18th and close for a few days  before reopening for one final "Club Famous" event the night of the 23rd.  Club Famous is the restaurant's event space in the back of Famous Pub.  

Famous Pub, which opened in 1986, is among the longest tenured of the current tenants at Toco Hills shopping center. Its closure comes on the heels of the closure of Shoe Center and the upcoming relocation of Petite Auberge.  

Unlike Petite Auberge, there are reportedly no plans to reopen Famous Pub in another location once they close at Toco Hills.

Well placed local sources indicate that there is a significant chance that other longstanding tenants such as Maggie's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, Bagel Palace & Deli and the Department of Labor may be forced to relocate amidst skyrocketing rents, which have reportedly tripled in the months following Edens' acquisition of the center.  At 20,000 square feet, the DOL represents the largest single tenant likely to close.  Its space, between Maggie's Famous Pub and Petite Auberge, is likely to be divided into smaller shop and restaurant spaces.  

Edens, which claims to be "Devoted to Local Neighborhoods," has riled many in the Toco Hills community with what many see as a cookie cutter-ization of the popular community center.  

What are your thoughts on the current status of Toco Hills? Are you sad to see places like Famous and Petite Auberge close?  If the DOL is forced to relocate, what would you like to see take its place?

Please share your thoughts below.  

26 comments:

Molly @ The Nesting Game said...

I would be extremely bummed to lose Bagel Palace.

Molly said...

I would be extremely bummed to lose Bagel Palace.

Anonymous said...

Looks like Atlanta is becoming a city of the 1%. Is Edens going to turn this whole shopping center into luxury condos for the 1%? That seems to be what's going on around the whole city, with rents skyrocketing everywhere, luxury condos going up and longtime businesses being displaced. Truly sad, but this is Republican economics at work. They only give a damn about the 1% and screw everyone else. They are a disgrace.

Anonymous said...

DEVASTATED. I'VE BEEN COMING HERE WITH FRIENDS TO WATCH SUNDAY FOOTBALL AND FOR OUR FANTAST FOOTBALL DRAFT FOR OVER 15 YEARS.

JOHN B.

Ham said...

Yes, sadly the trend is to tear down the unique and replace it with the mundane. Toco Hills has always been a kind of odd, sometimes hard to navigate, but generally nice place to visit. Now I fear it will become just another run of the mill half empty Atlanta strip mall.

Anonymous said...

Very sad to see the unique and local shops being pushed out for a cosmetic makeover and high rent greediness. This center had everything one could need, from shoes, office supplies, job search to karate classes. There are plenty of Bed, Bath and Beyond centers already.

Jim said...

Joining several more of you, I too am extremely distressed at the prospect of losing Bagel Palace. I was told a few months back that their rent has at least doubled -- but the last time I checked they had no plans to leave.

I'm also distressed by the "improvements" to the parking lot. Who told Eden's that straight-in parking, with concrete islands everywhere, was the way to go? Yes, there needed to be some improvements to "traffic flow" -- particularly at the corner past Toco Giant and behind the Suntrust bank / Steak & Shake, but all that concrete -- plus narrowing the driveways and parking spaces -- was uncalled for -- especially since the tenants seem to be the ones paying for it through their exorbitant rent.

Eden's claims to be all about neighborhoods, but they seem bound and determined to destroy this one.

Jim

Anonymous said...

Very Sad news. Whenever an institution such as Famous Pub closes, It is a very sad. Hope everyone raises a glass in their honor. Cheers

Richard Hanson said...

Seems like waaaaay too many apartments for 1% of the population. But plenty of cheap places in Norcross for you. Famous Pub has been a dump since forever; glad to see something worthy of the neighborhood.

Richard Hanson said...

Seems like waaaaay too many apartments for 1% of the population. But plenty of cheap places in Norcross for you. Famous Pub has been a dump since forever; glad to see something worthy of the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

I'd be very happy to see the unemployment office leave! That's been an eyesore and a depressing presence for years, and I always felt like it was keeping more upscale tenants away.

The parking lot changes are a nightmare. They've lost dozens of spaces!

So we have how many thrift stores over there? Their rent is going up as well? What about Chris' Pizza?

Famous may have been a dump but it was our local dump and some of us have been going there since it opened. :(

Billy said...

I have been going to Famous for over a decade. Even now that I live in Tennessee, I still make a pilgrimage to Famous a few Saturdays in the Fall. I went a few weeks ago, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with my fiance' to meet with old friends and watch a few games. As I got out of the car, I looked at her and said, "this is one of my favorite places in the world."

I have a ton of great memories from that place. It's one of the only bars I ever really felt comfortable in. I met a ton of people. I always had a great time.

The executives of Eden don't know what they are doing by forcing out so many locals. Nonetheless, I hope they fail miserably and end up waiting tables at an Applebee's.

Bagel Palace Bakery and Deli said...

Bagel Palace isn't going anywhere. During our 25 years we have established relationships with our customers who are like FAMILY to us. We look forward to many more years in this wonderful community.

Bagel Palace Bakery and Deli said...

Don't worry Molly. We're not going anywhere. Please ask for Manny next time you come in for a special thank you coupon

Anonymous said...

I hate to see this happen. We love the original tenants in Toco, and while it needs a minor facelift, it is losing its character and will become just another cookie cutter strip mall. Shame on you, Eden!!

Tami said...

I think I would cry if Bagel Palace closed. Please don't go anywhere BP!

Unknown said...

The gentrification has finally come and it makes me sad. I liked the funky vibe and Mario cart racing parking lot even though it was a nightmare. I was sad to see those apartments turn down and the ugly townhouse next to cvs go up. I get it, as time passes and new folKS move in, we must progress but change isn't easy when a place like Famous closes. No matter how tacky one might think it was as someone said it was our dump and now we are going to lose our funky vibe and become mainstream.

Anonymous said...

"Looks like Atlanta is becoming a city of the 1%. Is Edens going to turn this whole shopping center into luxury condos for the 1%? That seems to be what's going on around the whole city, with rents skyrocketing everywhere, luxury condos going up and longtime businesses being displaced. Truly sad, but this is Republican economics at work. They only give a damn about the 1% and screw everyone else. They are a disgrace."
-----------------

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is a Democrat. So how is this the fault of Republicans? Perhaps those greedy Cons snuck this in on November 9th when Mr Reed was in the fetal position crying like a baby?

Mary Beth said...

Maggie's is NOT closing. And the DOL is NOT between Maggie's and Petite. You need to get the facts right. Don't make assumptions. Ask the owners before you make incorrect statements that can damage a tenant's business.

Jody S said...

Thanks for this great article - and your disclosure that skyrocketing rents COULD force change with Bagel Palace, Maggies and DOL - you did NOT indicate that they are leaving.
But knowing that the rent is going up significantly to these anchor tenants who have been the fabric of our community for so many decades should motivate all of us to support our local stores at Toco even more. And I mean LOCAL - the ones that have always been there. I think it's great that Nearly New is in the old Benjamin Franklin's space (or part of it) and love that we can shop for a cause, or donate our excess - to do good. Having the DOL there reminds me how lucky we are to be shopping and not job hunting - and it is not an eyesore at all.
From ballet classes 50 years ago to martial arts classes for my kids, working out at Ladies' Workout Express and decades of shopping, movie watching and more, Toco Hills has been the anchor of my life in Atlanta. Based on the many people I've known since childhood that I see at Toco, I know I'm not alone. It is a community shopping center, and I really hope that it does not drive out the community businesses, or invite in businesses that will compete.
I hope to continue to call Toco Hills MY shopping center for many years to come, and hope that our neighborhood businesses will thrive from the infill housing. And I will continue to NOT shop at that other bagel place on the other side of Toco, the one that could have added an Emory location in 10 other centers, and should not have gone up against the original Bagel Palace.
I know this is "progress" but I don't think this area needs gentrification.

Anonymous said...

Owned a home in Toco Hill neighborhood for 25 yrs. Patronize numerous businesses there. Distressed to see these out of town ppl turning our locally based shopping into something out of Alpharetta. No local businesses can make it with their overhead tripling. ��������

Anonymous said...

This is a shame. The Toco Hills Shopping Center is/was one of the increasingly rare places in metro-ATL that still had a bit of character - thanks to (among other things) its eclectic mix of tenants. I rather like the fact that the Georgia Department of Labor is such a huge presence in the complex alongside interesting, authentic places such as Famous Pub and Maggie's.

Like so many here - I dread this shopping center becoming more sterile, generic, corporate, and exclusive.

It seems that the corporate machine is determined to erase as much true character as possible from metro ATL. Every time you turn around, another character-infused stalwart disappears (look at what is happening to the Cheshire Bridge Rd. area, for starters - and what has already happened to so many other areas).

Anonymous said...

Dang! Chill Mary Beth 10:14 AM. ...

Anonymous said...

That is a very interesting comment considering all this was in motion long before a Republican was voted in. I see it as a very Democratic thing! Decatur has lost its Indie feel

Anonymous said...

Anyone with half a brain knows Republicans are the party of the 1%, as further evidenced by the Deplorables that Trump is hiring for his Cabinet, a bunch of do-nothings, know-nothings 1 percenters. The 1% Republican developers like Edens are driving these. They want to push out the Middle Class while they bring in the wealthy elite to gentrify another part of the city.

Unknown said...

All of Famous Pubs decorations, fixtures and equipment will be sold at auction starting at 11am on Tuesday, January 10th. Please help spread the word to help the owners recoup as much money as possible. Bell Auctioneers is conducting the auction. More information can be found at www.bellauctioneers.com or on their Facebook page.

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