Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Bits & Bites

Tasty China is opening a second Smyrna area location.  The popular  Szechuan eatery started by respected chef Peter Chang will open a new location in Taylor Square in the 1800 block of Atlanta Road in "about a month." The existing Tasty China is on Franklin Road in Marietta. Tasty China closed its Sandy Springs location on Powers Ferry Road in 2014.  (It later became Ray's Rio Bravo, a reboot of the popular 90s Tex-Mex chain, but it, too, closed last month.)   

Zoës Kitchen plans to open its newest Atlanta area location Thursday March 16th at Peachtree Station in Chamblee.  The restaurant chain is promoting the location as being in Brookhaven but it's truly in the city of Chamblee.  (Some people refer to the area as ChamHaven.) Chipotle Mexican Grill plans to open its location in the center on Thursday March 30th. Peachtree Station will also welcome a host of new restaurants and retailers, including a new Whole Foods Market which is expected to open "in 2017."  

The new Sephora at Buckhead Exchange is expcted to open April 16th.  The new store follows the chain's November 2016 opening at the Avenue East Cobb. Both stores are meant to test the popularity and traffic of non-mall based stores.  


The Lovesac store at Lenox Square is closing this Sunday March 12th and is currently offering 60% off all in-stock merchandise.  Lovesac Lenox is located at the front of the mall, on the upper level, near Anthropologie.  The furniture retailer which specializes in "sactionals" operates a second Atlanta area store at Mall of Georgia in Buford which is expected to remain open.  


The new Goodwill in Roswell is expected to open Thursday, April 13th at Alpharetta Highway and Mansell Road.  The new Goodwill will occupy a former Office Depot space and will be relocating from its current store nearby.  


Popular e-tailer ThinkGeek is coming to Kennesaw with a location at Town Center at Cobb. Slated to open in early April, the shop will be located on the mall’s upper level Sears Wing, next to Bath & Body Works. ThinkGeek will offer customers a wide selection of pop culture and collectible items including movies, games, books, toys, trading cards, music and more.  At Town Center, ThinkGeek joins Box Lunch, a similar retail store, basically directly below its new store.  ThinkGeek has existing Georgia locations in Mall of Georgia in Buford and Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah 

A new Planet Smoothie/Auntie Anne's/Cinnabon tri-brand location is planned for Augusta Mall in Augusta. The three concepts will share a single nearly 1,400 square foot space near Sears and Dillard's in the General Growth Properties owned mall.  


The long awaited and controversial QuikTrip is finally making progress on Howell Mill Road. Existing structures are being demolished this week with plans to start construction soon.    


H&M will celebrate the Grand Opening of its new store at The Mall at Stonecrest Thursday, March 16th.   The new store is the Swedish chain's 15th in Georgia and will be followed by a 16th later this summer at The Shoppes Webb Gin in Snellville.  

A new restaurant called Parkside District A Meat & Seafood Co. expects to open in "late May" in Duluth.  The new full service restaurant is located just off Duluth Highway in Lawrenceville and will occupy the former American Classic Tavern.

Stein Mart plans to open its newest Atlanta area location tomorrow March 9th, at Parkside West Cobb.  The new shopping center on Dallas Highway recently welcomed a new Sprouts Farmers Market and a relocated Marshalls.  A number of other new restaurants and retailers are expected to open soon including Mellow Mushroom and Zoës Kitchen.

Cracker Barrel plans to open Monday March 13th at Park Place in Snellville.  The new restaurant joins Zaxby's and Freddy's in the newly developed center on Scenic Highway in Snellville.  

U.K. based Agent Provacateur reportedly  plans to close the "entire international side of the business" after being aquired by a consortium of investors. The super sexy lingerie company operates one store in Georgia at Phipps Plaza in Buckhead. 

Well informed restaurant sources indicate that the planned Sage Social Kitchen & Bar Kitchen in Buckhead may be stalled.  Sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that restaurant ownership is having financing issues that may cause the restaurant to be delayed or abandoned.  Sage Buckhead was announced last fall to be replacing the long vacant Morton's Steakhouse, but the last permit that was filed with the city of Atlanta was in December, with no permits and limited work since.    

In addition to the Nancy's Chicago Pizza planned for Buckhead I announced previously, another location is planned for Johns Creek. Nancy's Johns Creek will be located near the intersection of State Bridge and Medlock Bridge Roads in the Medlock Corners shopping center. Nancy's will occupy a 4,400 square foot space previously home to Stevi B's Pizza Buffet, which closed in late 2014.  Michael Glover, a multi-year veteran of McDonald's, is spearheading the Atlanta expansion where his franchise group signed a "Multi unit master franchise agreement" to further develop the chain in the southeast. 


Glover, whose group owns and recently expanded the Nancy's on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Midtown, does not own the Camp Creek location.  Glover hopes to have both the Buckhead and Johns Creek locations open later this spring and plans to open as many as 20 locations over the next 10 years.   

The Cost Plus World Market at Piedmont Peachtree Crossing has started its moving sale. Now through April 22nd, the store is clearing out in-stock merchandise ahead of its move to nearby Buckhead Station where they will occupy the remaining space left from the Toys r Us closure. (Saks OFF 5TH occupies the other portion.)  A store representative indicated that all merchandise is up to 30% off and that the new store will open April 23rd. Both Piedmont Peachtree Crossing and Buckhead Station were previously Equity One properties but have been absorbed into the Regency Centers portfolio following Regency's acquision of Equity One which was announced last fall and completed earlier this month.   

The Fellini's Pizza on Howell Mill Road is closed to complete some minor renovations including a new floor and new paint.  A Fellini's representative indicated plans call for the restaurant to reopen for normal business on Monday March 20th.  

Nate & Stephanie Smith of Smith Auto Spa dba Cactus Car Wash plan to open a number of new businesses in East Point. The Smiths operate an existing Cactus Carwash in Douglasville and plan to open another Cactus in East Point along with two restaurants.  The nearly four acre property is located just off Camp Creek Parkway, along I-285, on North Desert Drive.  Plans call for the constuction of the Cactus Car Wash along with a new Mexican restaurant called Sabroso Bar & Grill.  The restaurant, previously known as El Bandido Cantina, will reportedly be about 7,500 square feet and is being designed by Sandy Springs based Restaurants Consulting Group. Plans indicate that Sabroso will have two levels with an outdoor patio and terrace.  A site plan indicates the second restaurant could be as large as 6,500 square feet.  

Metro Atlanta's first location of Sage Dental is expected to open March 20th in East Cobb.  The dental office occupies the remaining portion of the former Blockbuster Video at the corner of Lower Roswell and Johnson Ferry Roads.  A Baskin-Robbins recently opened in another portion of the former video rental store, joining a Papa John's franchise.  Boca Raton based Sage Dental is appearing on a lot of property site plans these days as they work to penetrate the Atlanta market and compete not only with traditional private practice dental offices but also Irvine, CA based Pacific Dental Services, which is already rapidly expanding its Atlanta presence.  Other Sage Dental offices are planned for Johns Creek, Marietta, Midtown and Decatur, among others.

Waffle House c0-founder Joe Rogers Sr. died this past Friday, March 3rd, at the age of 97. Rogers and Tom Forkner opened the first Waffle House in Avondale Estates in 1955.  Today, Waffle House has over 2,000 location and covers half of the United States.  Forkner is 99 years old. The late great S. Truett Cathy who founded in Chick-fil-A in 1946, died in late 2014 at the age of 93. So there you have it: the secret to living a long, prosperous life is plenty of Waffle House and Chick-fil-A. 

Lastly, as I've received a number of questions, comments, requests etc. about the upcoming Whole Foods Market locations in Kennesaw and Chamblee, I contacted the company to get an update.  According to a local Whole Foods Market representative, both locations are "still happening" and are expected to open "in 2017."  As of last year, the Chamblee (Brookhaven) store was expected to open "spring 2017" followed by Kennesaw in "summer 2017."  

10 comments:

ImAndy said...

Sbarro coming back to perimeter. Shocked to hear they are still in business.

Anonymous said...

Does "this past" mean the same as 'last'? Someone reading next week will not know when it happened.

Why not write 'died Friday 3/3/17'?

Or such and such "closed for remodeling August 2017"?

Thanks for all the fun info about Atlanta!

Anonymous said...

Chamblee needs to get over it.

Chamblee is Chamblee, Brookhaven is Brookhaven, and Doraville is Doraville.

Chamblee is coming into it's own for dining choices. Soon enough, people might be saying 'near Chamblee'.

Anonymous said...

We've been concerned about our neighborhood Fellini's and the sudden closure for renovations. Thanks for sharing this info!

Anonymous said...

Chamhaven????? Why because this strip mall is a haven for shams? I live near this area and have never heard that expression, and hopefully it does NOT catch on. Lowe's has always been known as being in Chamblee. Geographically this property is solidly in Chamblee. Zoe's I think less of for pulling this stupid stunt If you don't want to be in Chamblee then don't open a store in Chamblee. But then again what does one expect from a chain that locates it's stores in strip malls.

Anonymous said...

Sage Dental replaced the White Tiger martial arts which moved to another location on Lower Roswell at Woodlawn.

Anonymous said...

Gonna have to say it. I guess if Joe Rogers Sr is cremated, will his ashes be scattered? And covered and smothered?

Anonymous said...

LOL! scattered, covered, smothered!

Anonymous said...

@Anon 3/9/17 @ 2:13 - HUH??? "But then again what does one expect from a chain that locates it's [sic] stores in strip malls." What does that even mean? A vast majority of chains opens locates its stores in strip malls. Agree that "Chamhaven" is a stupid name but your comment makes no sense!

Anonymous said...

Re my strip mall comment. Fair enough, I was trying to pack too many ideas in that poorly written sentence. Guess I'm just frustrated this development is just another strip mall filled with chain stores. And the attempt to obfuscate the location is sadly typical.

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