Reality Bites! Benzino's Crab Trap Sleeps With the Fishes in Midtown

Restaurant has short life in Midtown 

Two Restaurants Just Closed in East Cobb, One After Less Than Six Months in Business

Two closures hit East Cobb 

Grand Lux Cafe Planning Peachtree Premiere at Phipps Plaza

The original Grand Lux Cafe at The Venetian in Las Vegas 

New to market eatery to open at Phipps Plaza

Play Ball! SunTrust Park and The Battery Atlanta Are Open!

Braves new home welcomes host of new shops and restaurants.

First Freestanding Chick-fil-A to be Demolished and Rebuilt

Historic Chick-fil-A to be rebuilt. 

Kit & Ace Goes Bust, Closes All Stores Outside of Canada

Upstart rethinks retail strategy.

Dunwoody Residents No Longer Have an Applebee's to Ignore

Casual eatery quietly shutters

Bits & Bites

The new Macy's Backstage at Cumberland Mall

Macy's Backstage, the new "off-price" offering from Macy's, opened its first Atlanta area location this past Friday at Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth. The store is located on the second floor of the existing Macy's store. Other Backstage stores are planned for The Mall at Stonecrest, Cumberland Mall, Mall of Georgia, and Town Center at Cobb, among others.  Although I was unable to obtain definitive planned openings, a Macy's representative at Cumberland Mall indicated that their Backstage store is expected to open this coming Friday April 28th.  

The Local Pizzaiolo Heading to Antico's Backyard

Pizza chain to open first location on Westside

Westside Market Coming East to Toco Hills

Westside favorite bound for Toco Hills

Pollo Tropical Pulls Back Again, Closes 30 Units:Three in Georgia

Chicken chain to close three more metro units.

RaceTrac Seeking Larger Slice of Intown Market

RaceTrac planning new location in Atlanta.

The Times They Are a Changin' at Toco Hills: New Development Under Way

New development moving forward. 

Golden Buddha Bows Out of Smyrna, Juicy Crab Coming Soon

Popular Chinese eatery quietly shutters. 

Ann Taylor Bids Adieu to Atlantic Station

Women's retailer to shutter at Atlantic Station.

Brace Yourself! Atlanta to Lose Buckhead Mattress Firm

A sign advertises the soon to be vacant Mattress Firm store at Buckhead Walk 

Mattress retailer to shutter Buckhead store. 

Bits & Bytes

Flippin' Pizza plans to open their first Atlanta area location next week in Roswell.  The pizza franchise will open in a 2,400 square foot space in the Kroger anchored Coleman Village shopping center on Marietta Highway. Operators Manita Amin and Tulaib Faizy are opening the new restaurant and reportedly have plans for as many as four more metro locations in the coming years.  Flippin' Pizza was launched in southern California in 2007, and features "New York style" pizzas served in 18" pies or by the slice.  The pizzas are made with "filtered NY-style water."  The restaurant will celebrate their grand opening next Thursday April 27 with free slices, sodas, raffles and other giveaways from 3:30-7:30pm.  According to the Flippin' Pizza website, pizzas at the Roswell location will start at abut $16.50 for a basic cheese pizza and go up to about $21 for premium pies. Flippin' Pies also offers 10" gluten free pizzas which start at about $9.50.  Individual slices cost about three bucks. 

Walmart Will Close Another Metro Market

Photo of the closing Walmart Neighborhood Market courtesy of NorthFulton.com

Retailer announces closure of Alpharetta store.

Grub Burger Bar Signs on For Sandy Springs Development

The new Grub Burger Bar logo 

Burger joint bound for new development. 

Havana Restaurant Shutters Chamblee Sandwich Spot

Cuban eatery retreats to original location.

Tom + Chee Finished in Buford, TopPoke Opening Soon

Grilled cheese eatery closes third Atlanta area location.

Reeling Retailer Rue21 Restructuring, Nearly 400 Stores Closing

A rue21 store in liquidation mode 

Metro Atlanta largely spared in store closure announcement.

Bonus Bits & Bites

Coming Soon signs surrounded Garrett Popcorn in 2015 at Mall of Georgia 

Garrett Popcorn, the Chicago based gourmet popcorn chain, has closed its Buford location at the Mall of Georgia. The shop, which followed the late 2014 opening of the Lenox Square store, opened in early February last year and closed about two weeks ago.  Garrett Popcorn at the Mall of Georgia was located on the mall's main level near JCPenney.  A mall representative tells me there are no updates on who will replace them at this time.  The Lenox Square location remains open.

Club Monaco a No Go on the Westside

Club Monaco's Fifth Ave. store in New York with Toby's Estate Coffee 

Retailer cancels planned store.

Mori Luggage & Gifts Packs Up at Peachtree Battle

Local luggage store calls it quits at popular center. 

UPDATE! Whole Foods Market Openings in Chamblee and Kennesaw

Grocer confirms both stores will open...

Bits & Bites

Inside the new Design Within Reach store at Westside Provisons District

Design Within Reach opened their new "flagship" location on Howell Mill at Huff Roads on the Westside this past Saturday.  The store replaces Figo, which previously relocated to Marietta Street.    The designer furniture store relocated from their former home on Peachtree Road, just north of Peachtree Battle shopping center. The new store is about triple the size of the former store. The Peachtree Road Design Within Reach store has been converted to "Design Within Reach Contract," which deals exclusively with corporate accounts.  Plans call for the Peachtree store and recently demolished former Burger King restaurant to be joined as a single parcel and redeveloped as a high rise condo building.    

Five Home Development Coming to Wieuca Road in Buckhead

Buckhead home to be replaced by McMansions.

Buckhead's Raja Indian Restaurant Shutters After 37 Years

Indian eatery quietly closes.

Hhgregg, gggone! All Stores Closing

Electronics and appliance retailer to end operations after 62 years in business.

Duck Donuts Destined for Druid Hills

Toco Hills nabs new donut joint. 

Less Chances to Payless in Georgia

The current Payless logo on top, the classic Payless logo below  

Footwear retailer announces store closures.

Vine & Tap Goes Rotten in Buckhead, Abruptly Shutters

Vine & Tap promoting their failed effort to add lunch business 

Vine & Tap on Lenox Road has closed 

Bits & Bites

Farm Burger  plans to open alongside Your Pie at The George on Memorial Drive in Grant Park. This will mark Farm Burger's fourth location in Georgia and tenth overall. George Frangos, Farm Burger's founder and owner, tells me that the Grant Park restaurant will be about 1,800 square feet, similar in size to the company's Decatur outpost. Frangos anticipates that the new restaurant will open by the end of the year.  In addition to the Grant Park Farm Burger, Frangos expects to open two other locations this coming June/July in Birmingham and Memphis.  The Birmingham location will be on the city's southside in a redevelopment of the the old Waite's Building at the corner of 7th Avenue South and Richard Arrington Junior Boulevard.   In Memphis, Farm Burger will open at Crosstown Concourse, a Ponce City Market-like redevelopment of a former Sears property originally built in 1927.  The previously announced satellite Farm Burger location within Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is expected to open this summer with Frangos hinting at another Farm Burger location next year in the greater metro Atlanta area.  This past December, Georgia Oak Partners, LLC, made an undisclosed investment in Farm Burger to fuel the restaurant's continued growth.  Georgia Oak previously invested in Your Pie, but their franchised location in The George was reportedly coincidental and not planned or arranged in partnership with Farm Burger, a non- franchised model.      

Duck Donuts Waddles into Atlanta With Two Planned Locations

Donut joint plans Atlanta debut