[CLOSURE ALERT] Popeyes Pulls an Irish Goodbye in Sagamore Hills

The Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen at the corner of Clairmont and Briarcliff Roads in unincorporated DeKalb County has closed.  According to multiple sources close to the restaurant, the business closed as of June 28.  By Thursday afternoon, the restaurant had been decommissioned (all signage removed) and its windows were boarded up.  

The restaurant's closure caught many patrons off guard with seemingly no public warning of the move.  The Popeyes restaurant had been a neighborhood landmark for several decades and was completely rebuilt in 2001.    According to property records, the restaurant (2767 Clairmont Road), was owned and operated by Atlanta-based GPS Hospitality, a large franchisee of Popeyes, Pizza Hut and Burger King.  GPS however did not own the roughly 2,200 square foot building nor its nearly half acre parcel.  Instead, according to a source with knowledge of the relationship, GPS leased the property from another firm, Atlanta-based NRD Capital.  

NRD, (owner of Altitude, Frisch's Big Boy, The Original Hot Chicken and Inked Tacos, among other concepts) reportedly had an easement agreement with Stein Investment Group (SIG), owners of Williamsburg Village Shopping Center, allowing the restaurant to operate .  That easement agreement recently expired and with GPS, NRD and SIG seemingly unable to come to terms on a new arrangement, GPS opted to close.  

For their part, SIG has reportedly expressed an interest in working collaboratively with NRD to potentially incorporate the former Popeyes parcel into their redevelopment of Williamsburg Village.  SIG purchased Williamsburg in late 2018 and in the years since worked to figure out the "highest and best use" of the well located but obsolete center which included getting the property rezoned to meet their redevelopment needs.  

Among the things that have slowed the center's redevelopment are the long-term leases that many of the center's tenants signed prior to SIG's purchase.  One major domino that will fall later this year is the planned "merger" of the Williamsburg Village Post Office with the existing Dresden Drive Post Office about two miles away.  

In addition to Briarcliff Village, SIG is developing "Lumen Briarcliff," the multifamily-anchored project currently under construction across from Popeyes.  The project, which broke ground in 2022 and is slated to be completed towards the second half of 2024 will bring 264 "luxury" apartments along with about 5,000 square feet of ground floor small shop space that could include one fast casual restaurant.  The hard corner of Briarcliff and Clairmont will feature one freestanding restaurant that will span 4,000 square feet and include a rooftop patio.

According to a source close to SIG, work on Williamsburg Village is expected to commence in late 2024 or about six month after the completion of Lumen Briarcliff.  

Following the closure, Popeyes will continue to operate several dozen restaurants in metro Atlanta including at least two within close proximity of the recently shuttered store:   3896 LaVista Road in Tucker  and 5220 Buford Highway in Doraville.  Popeyes in 2009 closed a restaurant at Briarwood Road and Buford Highway in Brookhaven which was reopened in 2010 as a Pollo Campero franchise.  

Popeyes has in recent years tried unsuccessfully to develop locations along North Druid Hills near North DeKalb Mall and along Peachtree Boulevard across from Chamblee Plaza.  The company has however been successful in developing plenty of new restaurants in metro Atlanta but primarily OTP.  

What would you like to see open in place of Popeyes at Clairmont & Briarcliff?  What is your favorite fast food chicken chain? Are excited for the updates and developments at this intersection?

Please share your thoughts below