Bits & Bites

Five Below is coming to Buckhead!  The specialty discount store is opening in Buckhead Place (3232 Peachtree Road) in a nearly 12,000 square foot space adjacent to existing anchor Marshalls that was most recently home to Pier 1.  Most Five Below stores are about 8,000 to 10,000 square feet but the retailer announced plans to March to both open 200 new stores and further expand  space allocated to their "Five Beyond" items which include those priced at $6 and more.  The retailer, which is primarily found in suburban shopping centers, is also looking to expand in urban areas.  "In addition to our traditional focus on suburban power centers, we are now accelerating urban, as well as semi-rural stores, and are testing alternative venues," Five Below CEO Joel Anderson said on an earnings call with analysts in March. 

The Chick-fil-A at Peachtree & Collier, on which ToNeTo Atlanta first reported December 2021, closed April 13 to undergo a complete "scrape & rebuild" that will bring a new, larger Chick-fil-A to the area.  The new restaurant will take over the existing site in addition to the former liquor store property next door.  According to operator Bryan Auton "the added space will provide us with a much improved drive-thru experience, a more spacious and productive kitchen layout, a modern ambiance that guests dining in Buckhead have come to expect, and (perhaps most important😉) easier in-and-out access to our restaurant."  The new restaurant is expected to reopen late this year.  

Metro Atlanta's first and currently only Belk Outlet celebrated its grand opening April 15 at Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.  The new outlet, just the sixth the Charlotte-based company has opened nationally, replaced a former full-line Belk store.  

Atlanta-based Giant Sports Cards is opening a retail storefront at 5530 Windward Parkway Suite 110 in Alpharetta.  The locally owned sports card retailer is currently located in Hembree Center, a small business park on Hembree Road about five miles away.  The new space is 2,924 square feet and according to planning documents will feature a VIP Lounge, Kids Arcade and back of house "streaming room," among other amenities.  

Sankranti Indian Kitchen owner and restaurateur Srinivasa Nimmagadda ("Nimms") will open a second location of his quick-serve Indian eatery Tuesday May 2 near Emory University.  The new 2,200 square foot restaurant will open at 1569 North Decatur Road in Emory Village.  The new Sankranti replaces local burger joint Lucky's, which iteself replaced Starbucks.  Sankranti Indian Kitchen opened its first location at the State Farm-anchored Park Center in Dunwoody January 2022. 

Hawkers opened its newest location April 24 at Ashford Lane in Dunwoody.  The full service Asian street food restaurant opened in a portion of the onetime Cheeseburger In Paradise overlooking "The Lawn," the new green space at the project.  Hawkers joins the recently opened Superica and upcoming Grana, Culinary Dropout, and The Hall, a food hall, in the Target anchored center.  Another Hawkers, located at StudioPlex Alley along the Atlanta BeltLine, has been closed since a grease fire damaged the restaurant in July 2021.  The restaurant's kitchen is reportedly being completely reworked to prevent issues in the future and is slated to re-open later this summer.  

Andy's, a frozen custard shop, opened its second Atlanta area location April 26 at 3033 North Druid Hills Road near Toco Hills.  The Andy's building is thankfully far more creative than typical fast food and fast casual eateries of today and features a sloped roof and retro motif.  The first metro location of the Springfield, Missouri-based chain opened on Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta in June 2019.  Andy's also operates locations in Fayetteville and Athens.  

A new location of Grits & Eggs Breakfast Kitchen is opening in Buckhead Crossing shopping center.  The new restaurant will open in a 4,500 square foot space most recently home to Azul'e restaurant & lounge and before that Nancy's Pizza.  The first Grits & Eggs opened in place of what had originally been an outpost of Highland Bakery & Kitchen at Vinings Lofts & Apartments (3205 Cumberland Boulevard) in Vinings.  Permits filed with the City of Atlanta indicate that the restaurant also plans to open a new location at 565 Hank, an apartment building on Hank Aaron Drive in Summerhill, and at HERE Atlanta (699 Spring Street), a student housing apartment community near Tech Square in Midtown.  

Buffalo Wild Wings opened its heavily delayed "flagship" location in an outparcel of Perimeter Mall April 24.  

Sonic has pushed the planned opening of its new Sandy Springs restaurant to May 3 

Louis Vuitton last week reopened its larger store in the Luxury Wing at Lenox Square in Buckhead  

Whataburger opened its fourth Atlanta area location Thursday April 27 at Lakeland Plaza in Cumming.  As with other recent local Whataburger openings, the restaurant is for now open for drive-thru service only with plans to open the dining room in the weeks to come.  The new restaurant follows openings earlier this year in Woodstock and Buford and this past November in Kennesaw.   The San Antonio-based company has said it plans to add ten more locations to Georgia in 2023, including those planned for Monroe, Covington, Athens, Snellville, Dawsonville, Cumberland and a second in Kennesaw.  The chain has Texas-sized aspirations of having 50 new Whataburger restaurants open in Georgia by 2030.  

Trulieve, a medical marijuana dispensary, opened Georgia first dispensaries April 28 in Marietta and Macon. The Tallahassee-based company, described as "a leading provider in medical and recreational cannabis and CBD products" hosted grand opening and ribbon cutting events at the two locations starting at 9:30 AM.  The two dispensaries will be open 10 AM until 7 PM, seven days a week.  In Marietta, Trulieve is located at 220 Cobb Parkway North, a stone's throw from Six Flags White Water.  The Macon Trulieve is located at 3556 Riverside Drive, close to the large Shops at North Park shopping center.  The company plans by the end of the year to open three additional dispensaries in Georgia including 2002 Pooler Parkway in Pooler, 1690 E Hwy 34 in Newnan, and 4238 Armour Road in Columbus. 

A new location of Westside Market is opening Monday May 1 in Roswell.  The new market is opening in Roswell Town Center (610 Holcomb Bridge Road) where it will occupy a portion of a onetime Kmart that had more recently been a Hobby Lobby before the retailer relocated to North Point Parkway in 2019.  ToNeTo Atlanta first reported on the upcoming opening this past December.  The new retailer joins existing tenants such as Floor & Decor, Big Lots and Chick-fil-A.   Abe Malla opened the first Westside Market on Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard on Atlanta's Westside in 2013.  Malla added a second location at Toco Hills in early 2018.  The stores feature a mix of new and used household goods and furniture with booths operated by independent sellers.  A new Westside Market opened in Greenville, South Carolina this past December with reported plans to expand to additional locations in South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Florida. 

Bed Bath & Beyond began liquidation sales at its remaining 360 locations April 26 after it announced it plans to wind down operations following its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing April 23.  The Union, New Jersey-based company which was founded in 1971, will also close 120 buybuy Baby locations. Bed Bath & Beyond has already closed 400 stores over the past year.  In metro Atlanta, the company's presence has been reduced to only a few stores including those in Alpharetta, Duluth, Buford, Kennesaw and Atlanta at the Edgewood Retail District on Moreland Avenue.  In light of the retailer's announcement that they will no longer honor their famous 20% off coupons, at least two other retailers have announced that they will provide special discounts to customers who present them.  

Big Lots will provide a 20 percent discount on purchases of $50 or more when customers present any Bed Bath & Beyond coupon.  Offer valid though May 7.  

The Container Store will provide a 20 percent discount on any single item to customers who present, as they put it, "a competitor’s blue coupon."  The Container Store offer runs through May 31.  

Kinokuniya, a popular Japanese bookstore specializing in books, stationary, manga and magazines, is opening its first Atlanta area location.   The new store will be the chain's 17th domestic store and its second largest in the US, after its New York store.   The new Kinokuniya joins anchor grocer Super H Mart and will occupy a more than 11,000 square foot space in Abbotts Bridge Station (10820 Abbotts Bridge Road) in Johns Creek.  The new Johns Creek store joins existing U.S. locations in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, Washington, Oregon and California.  The company got its start in Tokyo in 1927 and first entered America with an outpost in San Francisco in 1969.  The company did not reveal when it plans to open the new store but is currently hiring for it.  

Citizens Culinary Market opened April 27 in the bottom of the building that houses Life Time Athletic at One Phipps Plaza in Buckhead.  The glorified food hall (neighboring Lenox Square has not a food court, but a "Dining Pavilion,") offers eight different food concepts that share a centralized kitchen within the 25,000 square foot facility.