Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Bits & Bites

Kroger will be permanently closing their "KroBar" as it's called by many, at its Brookhaven store on Peachtree Road in Cherokee Plaza as of Saturday, June 22. The bar, located at the front of the store, offers assorted beer and wine to be consumed before or after a grocery trip.  The bar opened last February and was the fifth the company operated in the market.  Other KroBars located in Kroger stores on Glenwood Avenue in southwest Atlanta, off Lindbergh Drive near the Lindbergh MARTA station, and at their Marketplace store in Cartersville remain open while one off North Decatur Road near Decatur reportedly closed earlier this month, according to an employee at the store. 
Asian eatery R Rice, which was located in Perimeter Town Center in Sandy Springs, has closed.  In its place, Koharu Japanese Restaurant has opened.

Urban Cookhouse has closed in Gateway Sandy Springs.  The restaurant, which opened January 2016, closed last week and is the first ever for the Birmingham born chain to close and not reopen/relocate elsewhere.  As ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported May 14, Denver based Snooze an A.M. Eatery will open in place of Urban Cookhouse early next year.

Women's clothing retailer Charlotte Russe, which this past April closed all of its 400+ stores after an unsuccessful return from Chapter 11 Bankrupcy, has begun to reopen stores, now under the new ownership of YM Inc, a Canadian entity.  YM plans to reopen as many as 100 Charlotte Russe stores in the coming years.  The retailer previously had more than a dozen stores in Georgia including outposts in Lenox Square, Perimeter Mall, Cumberland Mall, Town Center at Cobb, Arbor Place and North Point Mall, among others.  Thus far the company has reopened nineteen stores including one in Georgia at Cumberland Mall.  


Vida-Flo will soon be returning to Buckhead with a new location at The Peach on Peachtree Road.  The IV hydration business was previously located in The Shops of Buckhead on Peachtree Road in south Buckhead before an ownership change resulted in the removal of the Vida-Flo brand.  Vida-Flo is the third new tenant we have announced in recent months will be joining the successful Publix anchored center. Tamago Ramen, a new ramen eatery and Nitrolicious, a liquid nitrogen ice cream joint will also be opening in The Peach in the coming weeks and months.  

Ole Reliable, Kevin Gillespie’s pop-up restaurant that serves coffee, tea, and limited breakfast and lunch items, is now open at Georgia-Pacific Center at 133 Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta.  The eatery is open Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for food and drinks; 6:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. for drinks only; 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. for drinks only.

Agency Restaurant & Bar, Phipps Plaza’s latest dining and late night destination, has unveiled a new summer menu developed by popular Atlanta chef Jeffrey Gardner.  Formerly of East Cobb's Common Quarter and Downtown Alma Cocina, among others, Gardner has developed a new food menu for the concept that most recently operated primarily as a bar. Menu options include "The double stack burger with American cheese, heirloom tomato, pickles and Jackson, Mississippi-inspired comeback sauce," "Farro and quinoa grain bowl with raw and roasted veggies and avocado" (with options to add chicken, shrimp or salmon) and  "Faroe Islands salmon with bunch spinach, chiles, garlic and lemon." The Agency Socialthèque (social.tek) concept now includes Agency, the restaurant and bar component of the location, and Socialthèque Lounge, providing the Buckhead nightlife scene with live music and entertainment on the weekends.

Best Buy announced Tuesday its plans to open a “dedicated fitness space,” selling spin bikes and connected treadmills, in more than 100 stores by the end of the year.  Workout equipment is already available online, including spin bikes and shoes from Flywheel Sports, a compression recovery system from NormaTec, muscle rollers from Hyperice, rowing machines from Hydrow and a series of connected treadmills by NordicTrack. The products will begin to hit stores in the coming months.  Best Buy's move into fitness equipment and related merchandise is smart and gives customers even more reasons to visit physical stores.  The move also puts Best Buy in competition with Peloton, maker of stationary bikes like Flywheel's offerings.  Peloton operates more than 60 showrooms nationwide, primarily in high profile malls and shopping centers, including an outpost at Lenox Square in Buckhead.  

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any word on what's replacing the bars at those two Krogers? I use the Glenwood location all the time (until Publix opens!) and that bar is always dead too. I always thought it was a strange concept. By the way, I wouldn't say Glenwood is in SW Atlanta.

Anonymous said...

The biggest problem with the KroBar concept is that you have to remain in the designated area with your drinks. If they operated like they do at Whole Foods in Chicago, you could drink and shop--spending more than you had planned, and focusing more than is appropriate on snack foods.

Jason S said...

Southeast, Southwest... what's the difference. :D

Anonymous said...

It was indeed a strange concept. For most people, grocery shopping is: go in, get what you need, get checked out, and then go on to your next task. It's not a social event, and the idea of sitting there getting drunk before or after you shop (while all your frozen stuff melts) makes no sense at all. Are some people so addicted to alcohol that they need a drink to "calm their nerves" before they can even shop?

Anonymous said...

Urban Cookout was a decent restaurant and seemed to do a solid business. I will try out the new place but am honestly not huge on the breakfast model. Tupelo isn't bad but it's always so packed I've avoided it many times. Christopher, Flying Biscuit and Broken Egg are all very "meh" for the overall value. I live in this area though and pass Gateway a few times a week so plan to give it a shot.

Anonymous said...

Jeez can't even spell sincerely morons

Anonymous said...

Hmm...this will be at least the 3rd restaurant in this shopping center to fail. Very disconcerting when the average income indicates that quite the opposite should occur for this socioeconomic group, but yet the Popeyes still seems to thrive...imagine that.

Anonymous said...

I concur with your brunch/ breakfast venue comment. I honestly feel this area/ shopping center could use a more tactial venue ie paint and winery that would engage the inhabitants of ALL the multifamily assets that have sprouted up in that area over the last few years.

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