Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Bits & Bites

A new Planet Fitness Roswell is coming to East Cobb Station on Roswell Road, just off I-75 near The Big Chicken in Marietta.   The new fitness facility opens in place of longtime tenant Marietta Billiard Club Sports Bar & Grille.  Before Marietta Billiard Club, the space was home to Carriage House, a consignment furniture store.  East Cobb Station, formerly known as Town & Country Shopping Center, was purchased by Dallas-based Stream Realty Partners in late 2015.  The seller, Atlanta-based Mimms Enterprises, included the center as part of a larger portfolio acquisition that also included Moreland Shopping Center on Moreland Avenue in southwest Atlanta and Sandy Springs centers Marshalls Plaza (now "City Center Crossing") and North River Shopping Center, among others.  Stream has active or planned renovations for all of the centers that it purchased from Mimms.  

Ruby Tuesday closed its Conyers location at 1714 Highway 138 last Monday, July 23.   The Conyers location opened in 1992, according to the City of Conyers business licensing division, and was the latest in a string of closures conducted by the Maryville, TN-based casual dining chain.  Ruby Tuesday continues to operates a number of restaurants in the greater metro Atlanta area including locations in  East Point (2), Lithonia, College Park, Smyrna, Marietta, Alpharetta & Loganville.   

Steve Josovitz of The Shumacher Group, Inc. last week sold Flip Burger Boutique on Howell Mill Road to Joseph and Matthew Hsiao of Hsiao Restaurant Group.  Flip, created by Top Chef Richard Blais with partners Barry Mills and Ron Stewart, started in late 2008 on Atlanta's Westside.  The concept was eventually expanded with satellite outposts in Poncey-Highland, Buckhead, Birmingham and Nashville.  Others were planned for Charlotte and Washington D.C.  Today, only the Howell Mill and Birmingham location at The Summit remain open.  Chef Blais departed the concept years ago, later consulting on Chipotle's ill-fated Tasty Made, a quick-serve burger concept.  Flip's sale includes all rights to the name, recipes, brand, and trademarks.  Flip founders retained the rights to the Birmingham location and will license it from the Hsiao brothers going forward.  Despite the concept's struggles beyond its home turf, the brothers hope to grow the Flip brand nationally.  Among the brothers' other restaurant holdings are the original Flying Biscuit Cafe restaurants in Candler Park and Midtown, acquisitions previously orchestrated by Josovitz. 

Metro Atlanta's latest MOD Pizza will open Monday August 6th in the Whole Foods Market-anchored Peachtree Station shopping center on Peachtree Road in Chamblee.  The restaurant, the chain's fifth in Georgia, opens in a space previously leased to Tokyo Belly.  To celebrate the opening, the restaurant will provide free pizza or salad to the first 52 customers on Monday.  

Burgerim, an Israeli burger chain, plans to open a location at Perimeter Village at Ashford Dunwoody Road at Meadow Lane in early 2019. The new restaurant, located in the 2,973 square foot space formerly home to Uncle Maddio's Pizza, has been vacant since the pizza joint abruptly closed this past November.  Burgerim will be the latest in a string of restaurant additions to the Walmart anchored center that now includes Pita Street Food and will soon also include Poke Bar and Nancy's Pizza.  Burgerim's first Atlanta area location has been under construction for about a year and is expected to open soon around the corner from Taco Mac in the street level retail of Metropolis on Peachtree Street in Midtown.  ToNeTo Atlanta has reported previously that Burgerim also has locations coming soon to Old Milton Parkway in the same center as Jerusalem Bakery in Alpharetta and on Broad Street in Athens in place of the old East West Bistro.  More recently, the chain has also confirmed plans for restaurants in Stockbridge on Eagles Landing Parkway in Eagle's Landing Village Center and in Merganser Commons at Bonaire, a new Publix anchored shopping center in Bonaire, a suburb of Warner Robins.  Burgerim sells not sliders, but mini-burgers, weighing in at about 2.8 ounces. The menu includes 11 patties to choose from as well as chicken wings, chicken strips, salads, fries, onion rings and desserts.

British women's clothing retailer Karen Millen has closed its outpost at Lenox Square in Buckhead.  The store, previously located adjacent to J.Crew near Starbucks, had relocated to its recent home towards the front of the mall alongside UGG and across from Nike in 2013.

Bowlero will open its latest Atlanta area location in Atlantic Station next spring.  The family friendly bowling and entertainment venue has existing Atlanta area locations in Columbus, Kennesaw, Marietta and Norcross.  In Atlantic Station, Bowlero will occupy nearly 36,000 square feet formerly home to FOX Sports Grill, (Diner), City Sports (Kinnucan's) and currently home to a temporary H&M store.  The 30 lane Bowlero marks the return of a bowling venue to the project following the closure of upscale boutique bowling concept  Ten Pin Alley in 2011.  

Petite Violette Chef and Owner Wolfgang Joseph Gropp passed away on July 22, surrounded by his family, at his home in Sandy Springs.  Born June 9, 1937, in Coburg, Germany, Gropp trained in many prestigious restaurants all over Europe and America, including the Hotel Beau-Rivage, Geneva, Switzerland and The Savoy Hotel, London, England. One of the highlights in his life was preparing food for the Queen of England.  In August of 1974, Wolf opened the popular Petite Auberge Restaurant in Toco Hills. The legendary restaurant remained in that location for 42 years until late 2016 when it relocated to Clairmont Road and merged with Violette, a similar restaurant, and adopted Petite Violette as its new name.  Today, Petite Violette, owned by his sons Michael and Anthony, still serves his world-class recipes and is an all-time favorite restaurant in Atlanta.  Gropp's passing comes about 16 months after the sudden death of Stephanie Belcher, who had been Violette founder Chef Guy Luck's friend and business partner.  (Luck was abducted from his Atlanta area home and murdered in 2003.) 



A second Marietta location of El Pollo Dorado is coming soon to a former Pizza Hut (UTBAPH) in an outparcel of the Park Avenue Thrift/Food Depot anchored shopping center at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and Highway 92 in Acworth.  The restaurant's original location at 715 Sandtown Road operates out of a former Shrimp Boat restaurant.

The Halal Guys is heading to Duluth for its third Atlanta area location.  Franchisee Moynul Chowdhury, who opened Georgia’s first franchise in Chamblee in early 2017, has secured space in the Kroger/ LA Fitness anchored Peachtree Hill shopping center  at the corner of Pleasant Hill Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard for the new restaurant.  Chowdhury's second location, planned for the new Modera Midtown apartment building on 8th Street, is currently on target to open in early September.  Future Atlanta area locations of The Halal Guys could include locations in  Buckhead, at The Battery Atlanta, Downtown and in Kennesaw. 

The Rite Aid at 4005 Lawrenceville Highway at its intersection with Fellowship Road in Tucker has closed.  The freestanding pharmacy and drugstore originally opened as an Eckerd and was seemingly one of the many locations to be closed following Walgreens recent purchase of Rite Aid.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That entire East Cobb Station looks shady! Only the Andretti looks good (but the parking lot looks unsafe. I hope that area cleans up from the Sam's/Walmart/Big Chicken to the 120 loop.

Anonymous said...

MOD Pizza is actually really good. I was surprised the first few time I went.

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