Tuesday, January 18, 2022

[CLOSURE ALERT] Draper James Shutters Buckhead Boutique

Draper James, the women's boutique in Buckhead founded by actress, producer, and entrepreneur Reese Witherspoon, has closed.  The store, located in the Shops Around Lenox, across from Lenox Square, opened in November 2017, and reportedly closed at the end of 2021, according to a store employee at the brand's Nashville flagship.  The store's closure leaves a 2,150 square foot space available in a center that in recent years has become a popular destination for growing brands to enter the Atlanta market.  

This past November, Draper James opened a pair of new stores, one in The Galleria in Houston, Texas, the other in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.  The two new stores, both within enclosed malls, signaled a new direction for the brand where all three existing stores - Nashville, Lexington, Kentucky and Buckhead - were all in street-level spaces.  

Draper James closed their store in Dallas's Highland Park Village in early 2019 after about three years in business.  The brand reappeared in the Dallas suburb of Southlake in late 2019 as a pop-up that closed in 2020.  

It's unclear if the Buckhead closure was planned well in advance, but the fact that the boutique was allowed to display a message on the Shops Around Lenox website thanking patrons and redirecting them to their online store, seems to suggest that the boutique left on good terms despite the fact that they were only in business about four years.  

"Thank you Atlanta!  

We are sad to announce that the Draper James located at the Shops Around Lenox has been permanently closed. We thank you all of the years of support and hope to continue our relationship with our loyal customers.  

With that being said we are still available through our website for returns and future purchases. Please visit here: https://draperjames.com/" 

Witherspoon, perhaps most well known for her starring roles in Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, started Draper James in 2013 to honor her Southern heritage, and in particular, her grandparents, grandmother Dorothea Draper and grandfather William James Witherspoon. 

Erin Moennich, a veteran of both Bloomingdale's and LVMH, was named CEO of Draper James in July 2020.  In a November 2021 interview with Glossy, Moennich indicated that she planned to open "5-10 stores in the next two years", adding "that amount and timeline may shift if the two new stores are a success."  There are reportedly no current plans to reopen a store elsewhere in Atlanta.  

Are you surprised to see Draper James close in Buckhead?  What would you like to see open in place of Draper James at the Shops Around Lenox in Buckhead?  If Draper James did return to Atlanta, where do you think they should open?

Please share your thoughts below  

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not surprising. The Dallas store closed and moved out to the burbs. That location closed as well.

"Tyrone" said...

$9.50 for a BEC...on a bun not a biscuit, and surely they will swivel that iPad around at you for a Tip just to hand you the sandwich.
Read Anthony Bourdain's book "Kitchen Confidential" where he laughs about customers paying $12 for a two-egg breakfast. I'll stick to my own 47 cents worth of effin eggs at home.

Brittney H said...

I’m really disappointed. I loved this store! But I never thought the location was well chosen. I hate to say it, but they’d have fared better somewhere like Ponce City Market or The Avalon.

Anonymous said...

Sad to say that we are planning to be in Georgia this summer! 2022 Was looking forward to visiting the store! We are in Washington State, oh well!

Anonymous said...

Way too much crime around that location and in the City of Atlanta

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