Tuesday, August 2, 2022

[CLOSURE ALERT] Newk's Eatery Closes Two Atlanta Locations, Hopes to Reopen at Least One

Newk's Eatery has closed two more Atlanta area locations, but real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the Jackson, Mississippi-based chain is in talks to re-open at least one of them.  The restaurants, located in The Village at Druid Hills near the intersection of North Druid Hills and Briarcliff Roads and at Tucker Meridian near the intersection of Northlake Parkway and LaVista Road, closed in recent days and have both been removed from the Newk's Eatery corporate website.  

The 3,600 square foot Newk's in The Village at Druid Hills opened in 2014 while the 4,000 square foot Newk's in Tucker Meridian opened in 2017.  Professional signage in the window of the Druid Hills location indicated that it is closed, while less professional signage in the window in Tucker suggests the restaurant is only closed "temporarily."  

[Penn Station East Coast Subs, Newk's neighbor in North Druid Hills, also recently closed.] 

As a company, Newk's has had a rough time in metro Atlanta as of late.  Franchised Newk's locations have closed in Midtown, Berkeley Park, Lawrenceville, and Kennesaw in recent years.  A location in Jonquil, a Publix-anchored shopping center in Smyrna, closed at the end of 2020 but reopened in late April 2021 under new ownership and management.  It is believed that the company is hoping to recreate the Smyrna scenario by finding a new or existing franchisee to take over and reopen the Northlake restaurant.  

According to the Newk's website, the company and its franchisees continue to operate several locations in metro Atlanta including those in Brookhaven, Peachtree Corners, Kennesaw and Buford, among others.

Are you surprised to see so many Newk's restaurants struggle?  What would you like to see open in place of the North Druid Hills area Newk's?  What is your favorite fast casual sandwich shop?

Please share your thoughts below. 

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

So disappointed about these 2 Newk's closing. I love Newk's and these are the 2 closest locations to me. Last time I went to the Tucker one for lunch it had a very good to go crowd. I wonder if the road construction played a part in the Druid Hills location. Overall it's probably the pandemic that had the most impact. Will miss them both! Hopefully the Tucker one will reopen!

simplicius said...

Dave's Cosmic at Emory is my goto

Anonymous said...

I used to work near the location at N. Druid Hills and Briarcliff and it did a huge lunch business, but the parking was horrendous and not nearly enough spaces for a restaurant space. The construction was likely the final mail for them.

Anonymous said...

The NDH store seemed to be reasonably busy but much less so than when it first opened. For me, the construction on NDH deterred me from going. I went from once a week to once a month.

Anonymous said...

Dey wurkers ayn good…gnowhainsayin?

Anonymous said...

We went to the NL location all the time. For the past few months several times it was closed or take out only b/c they didn't have enough workers

Anonymous said...

dave’s has very good subs it’s just a very inconvenient location and they really have no dining room only a patio it is not climate controlled in the summer or the winter, and to be honest even though the subs are great you really don’t know what’s going on back in the kitchen in terms of cleanliness and creatures, the whole place is literally a shack about to be blown over in the next tropical storm. everything inside is so cluttered I’m surprised they pass inspection every year. Just imagine what else (besides inspection) you could barter for a good meatball sub!

Anonymous said...

it is true that the parking at the Druid Hills location is absolutely lacking and terrible, also the location within the shopping center the newks was literally hidden behind the mattress store and Walgreens, you had to know it’s there in order to find it. it seems like they would be depending on repeat business because the new business is hard to come by based on the location. in general I have never liked newks, the menu items when served look like paint by numbers, and not prepared with love or soul whatsoever, not prepared by people who even love food, literally paint by numbers recipes. it seems like they have some kind of photographed color by number chart on how to assemble each dish in the kitchen. maybe the original poster can validate this or add insight and perspective?

Anonymous said...

I hate to say it to the point of this original poster the employees at the Philly steak place were never good over the years and I could see why they had to close because they would literally get no repeat business based on the service and product they provided. At one time the Tin Drum had great employees then they started to stink but I wonder how it is now. I’ve been going to the Tin Drum in Sandy Springs ever since they opened and the service and quality there is very good. The employees in the little cake shop (not the donut shop) I forget what it’s actually called literally have always acted as if they’re doing you a favor and don’t want to serve customers when you walk in there, that’s why there’s never any customers there. I guess the theme of this post is one of how people just don’t want to work these days. I would put that on the deathwatch as well. at one point the QT at the corner was looking to tear down the Boston market and provide one of their latest generation rebuilds across both properties, I wonder whatever happened to that because I don’t think Boston market does enough business to even pay the rent. I think they’re on borrowed time.

Anonymous said...

North Druid hills closure SUCKS! When that hospital opens that will be a ton of business lost. Parking wasn't great, but never had an issue finding a spot. Employees there were always great and nice.

Ham said...

I've eaten at the Newk's in Peachtree Corners several times, so thought I'd check out North Lake location. Went a couple of times and found the service and food quality lacking. I hope they find new management and reopen I'll be glad to try again.

Anonymous said...

I really like Newk's and prefer it to similar restaurant chains like Corner Bakery, Jason's Deli, Panera Bread, etc. However, the location on Howell Mill Road in west Atlanta was always a disaster. Forever understaffed, terribly disorganized, and poorly managed, before and during the pandemic. When it closed, I emailed Newk's corporate and told them good riddance. If these other locations had similar issues, I'm not surprised that they shut down.

Anonymous said...

Newks at Town Brookhaven is totally over rated and to your point has always been very disorganized in operations and kitchen and front of house. The location is very convenient and I think that is what saves them,

Anonymous said...

Sorry that Penn Station closed, their sandwiches were very good, but the wait time to get one was incredible and they always seemed to be several staffers short. Like Newk's, they were also kind of tucked out of sight within that shopping plaza.

Anonymous said...

Northlake Newk's was so good! I hope they reopen. Always a crowd when we went but I imagine when Emory moves into Northlake Mall there will be even more customers, if that's what they need.

Anonymous said...

Everything you said is true, but I will STILL drive all the way to Emory just for Dave's.

Anonymous said...

The Newk's at Northlake has had a tough time retaining staff. As most of us are aware, this situation is not unusual these days. By being short staffed, they had difficulty processing on-line and call-in phone orders. Also, this meant that at busy times, their dine-in clients were subjected to long lines and a much longer wait time to receive their orders.
I wish the staff and the franchisee all the best and hope to see them return soon.

RayAtL said...

Newks dropped a few of our favorite menu items during / after the (ongoing) pandemic. So we dropped Newks.

Unknown said...

Mama’s Banh Mi just opened in Doraville serving Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches. They should go into one of these Newks location.

Anonymous said...

I would love to see the Newk's in Northlake find new owners and reopen. Over the years, we have had many group outings there and it was always a popular location.

Anonymous said...

There's one 7min away...Brookhaven...much better!

Anonymous said...

I hope that the Newk’s in Northlake opens again. It had a really great lunch crowd. We went weekly for the sure. There was somewhat of a staffing problem. I hope that they will find new management and reopen.

Anonymous said...

It looks like they are reopening next month under new ownership.

Anonymous said...

They are working on reopening. Was told they would be opening next month.

Anonymous said...

Tucker Newks is open again, August 2023.

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