Bits & Bites

LL Flooring (formerly Lumber Liquidators Flooring) is opening a new location in Smyrna.  The new store, in the former West Marine, is opening in The Promenade (2460 Cobb Parkway), the same plaza as Best Buy and The Juicy Crab.  West Marine closed its store in the center this past fall.  following the August closure of longtime tenant Scalini's Italian Restaurant.   The new LL Flooring marks the Richmond, Virginia-based company's 13th store in Georgia joining those in Kennesaw, Duluth, Roswell and Cumming, among others. 

Snooze an A.M. Eatery will open its fourth Atlanta area location later this month in Alpharetta.  The new breakfast and lunch eatery, located at 6065 Northpoint Parkway Suite 230, is slated to open June 28 and join existing metro Atlanta outposts of the Denver-based chain in Chastain Park, West Midtown and Midtown.  In addition to the Alpharetta unit, additional Atlanta area Snooze restaurants are planned for the Cumberland area, Dunwoody and Buford. 

Vegan restaurant The Loving Hut is closing in Sandy Springs after ten years. The restaurant, located in a roughly 1,700 square foot two level space in the Kroger-anchored City Place shopping center, will close as of July 8.  A separately owned location of the international franchise near the intersection of Spalding Drive and Holcomb Bridge Road in Norcross will remain open.  (The Norcross restaurant features a completely different menu than the Sandy Springs outpost.)  Loving Hut previously closed a location in Norcross.  When Loving Hut opened in Sandy Springs in 2013, it replaced World Peace Cafe, another vegetarian friendly restaurant that had been open six years.   

Talkin’ Tacos, a food truck turned fast-casual Mexican eatery based in South Florida, will be opening a new location in Atlanta.  The company announced earlier this week that it had signed franchise agreements in both Atlanta and Washington D.C., with news coming shortly thereafter that the Buckhead Cluck-N-Mooh had been sold to the local franchisees of Talkin' Tacos.  Cluck-N-Mooh opened in Buckhead Crossing (2625 Piedmont Road) in 2020 in place of what had most recently been a Smashburger.  The roughly 2,500 square foot space along Sidney Marcus Boulevard had before Smashburger been home to a Fatburger franchise and before, that KFC.   Talkin’ Tacos is the brainchild of South Florida entrepreneurs and childhood best friends Mohammad Farraj and Omar Al-Massalkhi.  The concept began as a food truck during the height of the COVID pandemic in 2020 but quickly grew into brick-and-mortar locations in Miramar and Coral Springs, Florida, and the Brickell and Wynwood neighborhoods of Miami.   The restaurants feature self-service kiosks where guests can place their own orders and receive faster service, according to the restaurant.  The restaurant's menu features an array of unique entrees such as Birria Tacos, Birria Ramen and Birria Pizza.  Desserts include Cookies and Cream and Dulce de Leche Churros and Tajin & Chamoy gummies along with homemade specialty beverages including lemonades, horchatas and mangonadas.

Roots Pressed Juices is closing its juice joint at The Shops Around Lenox in Buckhead.  Following the completion of its ten year lease, Roots will close June 28 for the final time.  The shop opened in July 2013 and carved out a following in the area for their fresh juices and cleanses.  The company will continue to operate two shops in their home market of Dallas, Texas and is reportedly looking to reopen elsewhere in Atlanta at some point.  Evereve, a women's clothing store on which ToNeTo Atlanta reported in May, will be taking over not only the former Bhojanic Indian restaurant space but the Roots space too.  

CAVA, the stock of which went public June 15 and promptly shot up, will soon open the last of its Atlanta area converted Zoes Kitchen restaurants.  On June 16 the company debuted a former Zoes in Peachtree City and will in the coming weeks open at 1385 Oxford Road in Emory Village across from the main campus of Emory University.  The Emory Village restaurant will mark the 23rd in Georgia for the Washington D.C.-based chain.  The Atlanta area's first non Zoes-converted Cava is planned for Summerhill Station, the new Publix-anchored shopping center in Summerhill.