Friday, May 26, 2023

Bits & Bites

Big Lots is closing its longstanding store at East Cobb Station along Roswell Road in Marietta.  The store, which includes not only the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer's typical product mix but also a separate furniture showroom, started their liquidation sale May 23 offering "up to 30% off the entire store" with "nothing held back."  The sale, however, excludes ALL food which is a good 20 percent of the store.  There is no word yet on what may replace the roughly 32,000 square foot space.  

A new Wells Fargo bank branch is coming soon to One Buckhead Plaza (3060 Peachtree Road).  The new Wells Fargo will officially open along West Paces Ferry Road just down from Lobster Bar near where Spa Sydell once operated.  The new branch will serve as a replacement for the existing branch at 31 Pharr Road, less than a half mile away.  Sources close to the bank indicate the closure/opening are expected to occur in October.  

Primrose Schools plans to open a new location in partnership with Emory Healthcare at Northlake [Mall] in Tucker.  The new childcare facility will be located in an indoor/outdoor portion of the onetime Sears at the mall that Emory has since leased for itself.  Sources close to the project indicate that while it will be located on Emory property and operated in partnership with the hospital group, that it will be open to the public.  Primrose Schools was founded as Primrose Country Day School in 1982 in Marietta and is today owned by franchise juggernaut Roark Capital Group.  There are currently nearly 50 Primrose Schools in metro Atlanta and about 500 nationwide.  

New locations of both Chipotle Mexican Grill and Olive Garden are coming to Walnut Avenue next to Days Inn by Wyndham in Dalton.  

Popular Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant Feedel Bistro is closing Sunday May 28.   Although we had heard rumblings of this news a few weeks ago, the restaurant made an official announcement Thursday on its Facebook page.  Opened by sister and brother Tamar Telahun and Simon Gebru in September 2018, the restaurant will close in its current form with plans to relaunch a less food-focused concept in its space in the weeks to come, according to a source close to the restaurant. Feedel is located at 3125 Briarcliff Road, just down from Mo's Pizza and near the Briarcliff / Clairmont intersection.  

HOBNOB Neighborhood Tavern, the popular local eatery with four existing locations, will open a new restaurant in Peachtree City in early 2024.  The new restaurant will be located in The Avenue Peachtree City (240 City Circle) where it will replace Heirloom Market Co. which will reportedly move to another space within the development.  Known for an assortment of burgers, weekend brunch and an extensive bourbon list, HOBNOB has grown from its humble beginnings in a converted former Caribou Coffee in Midtown in 2010 to the multi-unit group that it is today.  The original Midtown outpost at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and Monroe Drive closed in early 2020 and "moved" to Atlantic Station in early 2021.  In addition, HOBNOB also has locations in TOWN Brookhaven in Brookhaven, Ashford Lane in Dunwoody and Halcyon in Alpharetta.  A fifth HOBNOB is slated to open later this summer in Vinings Jubilee.  Collectively known as Big Table Restaurants and owned by the husband and wife team Sean and Becky Yeremyan, the group includes the four existing HOBNOB restaurants as well as Cattle Shed Wine & Steak Bar at Halcyon. 

Evereve, a growing retailer of women's clothing and accessories, is slated to open what will be its fourth Atlanta area location at the Shops Around Lenox in Buckhead.  The retailer plans to open in suite 201, a space Indian restaurant Bhojanic most recently occupied, which was before that Y-3, a collaboration brand between Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto.  The Edina, Minnesota-based retailer will renovate the 3,933 square foot space to suit its needs and should open later this fall.  The company currently operates a pair of Atlanta area locations: Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody and Avalon in Alpharetta.  A third location is coming soon to The Avenue East Cobb. 

Grecian Gyro is expanding and relocating its Snellville restaurant. The family-owned restaurant will be moving from Snellville Plaza Shopping Center, where it first opened in August 2018, to an existing freestanding building at 2735 Main Street W, about a half mile away.  The new Grecian Gyro will make use of the building and its existing drive-thru which were most recently used by Zaxby's and before that, Long John Silver's.  Property records indicate the roughly 1,900 square foot building was originally constructed in 1980.  The brand’s signature soft-serve ice cream, Izzy’s European Ice Kreme, will be a new addition offered at the expanded location. Barring unforeseen delays, Grecian Gyro hopes to be open in their new location in September.   

New locations of Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery are coming to The Grove at Towne Center, the new mixed-use development in Snellville.  The project, located at 2285 Wisteria Drive, includes new restaurants, retailers, apartments and greenspace.  Great American and Marble Slab are slated to occupy a 1,471 square foot space.  Both franchises were until 2021 owned by Atlanta-based Global Franchise Group (GFG) but were, along with GFG, acquired by Beverly Hills-based FAT Brands.  

The Righteous Room, which quietly closed its Brookhaven restaurant this past December, is reopening a few miles away in Sandy Springs.  An updated site plan for Perimeter Pointe (1155 Mount Vernon Highway) indicates that The Righteous Room will reopen in the roughly 1,300 square foot former home of Royal Oak Pub.  Despite the updated site plan, we observed no visible work at the space on our recent visit, so it's unclear how soon the bar may reopen.  

Lululemon will soon relocate and expand their existing store in Perimeter Mall to a different space across the hallway.  The new lululemon will occupy the onetime Amazon 4-Star store, a roughly 5,600 square foot space, between Anthropologie and Madewell.  The popular Canada-based athleisure brand previously expanded its store at Shops Around Lenox in Buckhead and at Avalon in Alpharetta.  

Inked TacosThe Original Hot Chicken  and Pinsa Roman Pizza are reportedly all opening June 15 at the corner of Abernathy and Roswell Roads in Sandy Springs.  The new restaurants, all new concepts from Atlanta-based "Experiential Brands," will open in the two level space beside Goodwill that was for several years home to Huey Luey's before their October 2021 closure.  Shortly after its closure, it was announced that The Captain's Boil, a Cajun seafood restaurant would open in the space as well as three other sites around metro Atlanta.  But the first two Captain's Boil locations that did open - Cumberland Mall and Woodstock - both performed poorly and closed in short order.  We were told in January - while attending the opening of The Original Hot Chicken in the former Captain's Boil in Woodstock - that all three restaurants were being considered for the Sandy Springs site but only recently was that plan officially confirmed and an expected opening provided.  All three restaurants are owned by Atlanta-based private equity firm, NRD Capital.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reported in December that Canada Goose had filed permits to open in suite 1074 C at Phipps Plaza (then occupied by Tommy Bahama) and were told by a mall leasing representative that the company "got ahead of itself." and that "no lease was signed."  Interestingly, Tommy Bahama recently closed and Canada Goose is in fact opening in their former space, which suggests it was not "they that got ahead of themselves," but that our research yielded results sooner than they [Phipps Plaza management] wanted. 

Pottery Barn plans to open its sixth overall Atlanta area location in early 2024 at Ponce City Market.  The new store will span 18,000 square feet and be located at 619 Ponce, a new, four-story "mass timber" loft office building currently under construction on the corner of Ponce de Leon Avenue and Glen Iris Drive.  The new Pottery Barn joins existing locations of Williams-Sonoma and West Elm, both sibling Williams-Sonoma, Inc. concepts already open in Ponce City Market.  Pottery Barn operates existing locations in Buckhead (Lenox Square), Alpharetta (Avalon), East Cobb (The Avenue East Cobb), Peachtree Corners (The Forum Peachtree Corners) and Buford (Mall of Georgia).  The San Francisco-based retailer also operates an outlet in Dawsonville (North Georgia Premium Outlets) and another full-line store on Drayton Street in Savannah.  Although the new location is advertised as in addition to existing area locations, several real estate sources have speculated that the company may close its store at Lenox Square - where it already closed Williams Sonoma - when its new store at Ponce opens.  

Veterinary Emergency Group (VEG), currently with one location open in metro Atlanta and a second opening soon, has signed a third lease.  The Valhalla, New York-based company entered the Atlanta market in 2021 with a clinic on Old Milton Parkway across from Avalon and will, according to Google, open a second location (in a onetime Mattress Firm turned Tokyo Valentino) on Johnson Ferry Road June 13.  The company's third location will open in Brookhaven Plaza where it will backfill a onetime Eckerd turned Walgreens turned Rite Aid.  The Brookhaven clinic recently started construction but already has exterior signage up.  The roughly 8,700 square foot facility should open before the end of the year.  In Brookhaven Plaza, VEG joins anchors Planet Fitness and Total Wine as well as one of our favorite intown restaurants, Terra Terroir.  

Conn's HomePlus recently opened just its sixth standalone location in Georgia and its first in metro Atlanta.  The new store, located in a nearly 35,000 square foot space in Stone Mountain Festival (1825 Rockbidge Road), backfilled a large portion of what was most recently a Hobby Lobby.  Harbor Freight also recently opened in a portion of the former Hobby Lobby.  Conn's carries furniture, mattresses, electronics and appliances.  The Woodlands, Texas-based Conn's operates a total of twelve stores in Georgia, six standalone and another half dozen in partnership with Belk within Belk stores including those in Norcross, Buford and Kennesaw.  

Four Fat Cows opened its newest location Saturday May 20 at Politan Row at Colony Square in Midtown.  The locally owned ice cream and baked good business is located in a custom kiosk near the large doors leading out to the greenspace.   The mother and sons run business operates existing outposts in Reynoldstown, Dunwoody, Alpharetta, Marietta in Marietta Square Market and in Buckhead on Pharr Road.  

New locations of Barking Hound Village are planned for Old Fourth Ward and Sandy Springs.  In Old Fourth Ward, Barking Hound Village will open at 619 Ponce de Leon Avenue.  The new location, which the dog care company reportedly purchased, will replace the group's existing location at nearby 765 North Avenue.  (There were previous unsuccessful efforts to put a Starbucks at 619 Ponce.)  Barking Hound Village is also coming to Cornerstone Square in Sandy Springs.  The new Barking Hound Village will be the Atlanta-based company's seventh overall joining existing locations in Decatur, East Cobb and Buckhead, among others.    

Kura Sushi Revolving Sushi Bar opened its second Atlanta area location Saturday May 13 at The Exchange at Gwinnett in Buford. The Irvine, California-based business opened its first Atlanta area location in Doraville in 2017.  Another location is planned for phase two of The Interlock along Northside Drive in West Midtown.  

The Exchange at Gwinnett also recently welcomed metro Atlanta's newest outpost of Lovesac, the modular furniture company.  The Stamford, Connecticut-based company operates existing local showrooms in Lenox Square in Buckhead, Interlock in West Midtown, Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, Avenue East Cobb in East Cobb, Avalon in Alpharetta and Avenue Peachtree City in Peachtree City.  (Lovesac previously operated a store in Mall of Georgia in Buford.)

A new Caliber Car Wash is coming to the site of a recently closed Burger King at 1190 Ernest Barrett Parkway, just off Cobb Parkway in Kennesaw.  

Capital Tacos opened its first Atlanta area location May 25 in Johns Creek.  Later this summer a second location will open in Peachtree Corners followed by a third in Newnan this fall.  

The Salty (donut) will celebrate the grand opening of their first Atlanta area location Friday May 26 in Buckhead.  The new donut shop is opening at 5 West Paces Ferry Road,  just off Peachtree Road in the heart of Buckhead.  The new donut shop opens in place of what was most recently a franchise of build-your-own pizza chain Your Pie but was before that Lime Fresh Mexican Grill and before that a Johnny Rockets.  The Miami-based donut shop plans to open its second Atlanta area location at the Krog District near Krog Street Market around mid June and a third outpost at the new Star Metals development in West Midtown later this summer.  

O'Charley's has closed its restaurant at 9320 The Landing Drive near Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.  The restaurant served the community for more than two decades.  This marks the latest O'Charley's closure in metro Atlanta following earlier closures in Lawrenceville, Snellville, Tucker and Kennesaw, among others.  The Tucker outpost later became the relocated home of popular Italian eatery Bambinelli's while the Kennesaw outpost was demolished to make way for metro Atlanta's first Whataburger.  

Flying Biscuit Cafe opened its newest Atlanta area location May 22 at Ariston's The Pointe in Buford near the Mall of Georgia.  The new restaurant is the fourteenth in Georgia and 28th overall for the Atlanta-based franchise.  According to the Flying Biscuit website, new locations are also slated to open later this year in Castleberry Hill, Athens and Columbus.  

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not surprised about Pottery Barn. The demographic at Lenox these days does not support modern, chic, beige furniture and upscale home accessories.

Anonymous said...

“The demographic”???? Seriously? Racist

Anonymous said...

“The demographic”??? Why don’t you say what you really want to say??? 🤦‍♀️

Alex said...

No reason given for that Big Lots closing? That's one of the largest Big Lots I've been to so I'm guessing it's the rent?

Anonymous said...

@ Alex May 29, 2023 at 11:28 AM

Hey, I was at the Big Lots yesterday hoping to get good deals an the remaining merchandise is meh. Spoke to a manager and he was packing up items to be shiped to other stores and he said it was due to rent increase. New owners of the shopping center has improved and increased all the rents. Shame. Big lots has been in this area for over 20 years it seems. The sales is from 5 to 20% off ... Not that great. All my items were at 5% off.

Anonymous said...

Ahh thank duh wurd beez Realist!

Anonymous said...

There is nothing wrong or racist by calling out the demographic that Lenox/Phipps attracts. Facts are facts, period.

Anonymous said...

Belk is in PEACHTREE CORNERS not Norcross

Anonymous said...

Nothing racist about Demographics, Kind of racist of you to assume race is the only factor. More of a generational thing IMHO.

Anonymous said...

Well, we've reached the point of our discussion where pointing out facts and the truth is being "racist"....whatever that means, since it's a term thrown around so often that it no longer has any meaning.

Anonymous said...

Demographics is NOT a code word for anything with racial bias. GEEZ PEOPLE

Anonymous said...

People in these comments say everything is "racist" lately. Grow up, fools.

Anonymous said...

You aren’t pointing out any facts. No facts or case has been made here to support your statement. And that is racism. You are making assumptions about all of it. You probably don’t live in the area and haven’t visited it for years, and have no demographic data to share. So just making something up based on hearsay and your fear of anyone who is not white and over 50, makes your statement racist.

Anonymous said...

Once again, 75% of the posts on this item are by the same racist guy who's been posting the same crap over and over for the better part of a decade now, every time Buckhead is mentioned.

First he makes oblique references to "the demographic" or "certain people" or whatever catch phrase he's using now. Then he replies, pretending to be someone else, about how the "other guy" is just stating facts and is not racist and then he always throws in the textual blackface "Ahh thank duh wurd beez Realist!" bit.

Same schtick, every time.

Anonymous said...

ABSOLUTELY, The more people that understand this, the greater the chance of reversing this tragic, largely-ignored mess.

Anonymous said...

Not sure why it's controversial or "racist" to acknowledge the demographics at Lenox have changed in the last five or so years. Lenox used to attract shoppers of all ages and races who had varying lifestyles, tastes and budgets.

Today, Lenox is overwhelmingly patronized by young black people influenced by the trap music scene who gravitate toward flashy designer brands rappers and local celebrities wear, so it's no surprise more conservative stores like Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn are unable to survive.

I would expect a store like Brooks Brothers to follow suit (no pun intended). Different people have different tastes, that's all.

Anonymous said...

The "demographic" that Jussie Smollett is referring is one of his own. "Certain" people" are their own worst enemies.

Anonymous said...

A mall putting up metal detectors at all its entrances tells me all I need to know about its demographics.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ 9:35 on June 1 sums it up perfectly. End of story.

Anonymous said...

The changing demographics is why Pottery Barn is leaving and Popeyes opened. Demographics is not racism

Anonymous said...

I work at Neiman Marcus. The management calls the new clientele the “cash customer”, which is code for black. We’ve had drug dealers and criminals walk in with $20,000 in cash. The clothing and shoes are turning urban style. Our regular clientele is mostly gone (either moved or just stopped shopping in the store). Lenox now offers security to walk you to your car if you shop in high end stores. So to say Lenox and Phipps are now safe is a complete joke.

Anonymous said...

It makes more sense for PB to move out of large malls. It's easier for the employees to unload and load furniture and other large heavy items.

Plus it more convenient for customers shopping for home goods and not apparel. Easy in and out.

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