Boston Market has seemingly closed yet another Atlanta area location. The struggling franchise over the weekend shuttered its location at 2535 Briarcliff Road, leaving the chain with just one location in metro Atlanta. In recent years, Boston Market has closed several units in metro Atlanta and dozens more around the country.
The Briarcliff restaurant still appears as open on the Boston Market website as does the location on Powers Ferry Road near Truist Park, which closed in May.
Boston Market seemed to offer its fare on delivery platforms like Uber Eats and Postmates not under its trade name, but under the alias "Rotisserie Roast." It's unclear why the company was playing games with their branding, but the effort was reportedly part of a larger test in multiple markets.
Signs at the Briarcliff restaurant read:
"WE ARE CLOSED. SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE"
A separate sign at the restaurant reminds would-be patrons:
***NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS***
EXTREME HEAT INDEX
"Our AC Unit is under construction. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding."
Perhaps the cost of the AC "construction" became too great or employees walked out over the sweltering temperatures?
If the restaurant does remain closed, its property could be of interest to several parties, among them a neighboring QuikTrip (QT) which could seek to expand its property to make a scrape & rebuild more feasible. Both the QT (2375 North Druid Hills Road) and the Boston Market properties were annexed into the City of Brookhaven in late 2020. Other restaurant chains are sure to have interest in the space too, especially when you consider the building has drive-thru and is close to large and growing campuses of Emory Healthcare and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, among others.
Property records indicate the Boston Market is about 2,600 square feet and sits on .83 acres.
Following several years of closures, Boston Market's one remaining Atlanta area restaurant is on an endcap of a small strip center along Stone Mountain Highway in Stone Mountain.
In January 2019, Boston Market closed their East Cobb location on Sandy Plains Road followed by 45 closures nationally later that July. (The East Cobb location later reopened as a Chipotle.) Company executives blamed the closures on "an evolving restaurant industry that faces increasing competition, rising costs and shifting consumer preferences." The July closures included local restaurants on Redan Road in Stone Mountain and on Highway 29 in Lilburn.
In January 2020, the company closed their Roswell restaurant on Holcomb Bridge Road. (The Roswell restaurant will reportedly serve as a relocation of a nearby McAlister's Deli.) The company also in recent years shuttered locations at Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, and Fort Gordon.
Boston Market, originally Boston Chicken, began in Newton, Massachusetts in 1984, and was owned by McDonald's from 2000 until 2007. Today, the chain is based in Golden, Colorado, and was until early 2020 owned by Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm.
In April 2020, Sun Capital Partners sold Boston Market to Engage Brands, LLC, a company of Rohan Group, owned by entrepreneur Jignesh "Jay" Pandya. Also in April, the company shuttered Atlanta area locations in Sandy Springs (where a new Sonic opened this past April) and in Duluth (where a new urgent care facility recently opened in the renovated former restaurant).
ToNeTo Atlanta reported in January that a new Boston Market is planned for Stonecrest. The new ground-up Boston Market is coming to 2708 Evans Mill Road in DeKalb County. The roughly one acre property is located on vacant land at the southeast corner of Evans Mill Road and Covington Highway.
Are you surprised to see another Boston Market close? What would you like to see open in place of the recently shuttered Boston Market? Who do you think makes the best rotisserie chicken or mac & cheese in metro Atlanta?
Please share your thoughts below.
11 comments:
Anyone know when this location opened? I used to live down the street from it 18+ years ago and I feel like it’s been here as long as a I’ve been in Atlanta which is 22 years.
It was there when I moved here in 2000. I would guess it arrived in the mid-90s when Boston Market expanded across the country.
Not surprised to see it close. It is well passed its prime. I was surprised it was still open. In my opinion it's very risky to take a left turn out of that location so that should be a consideration of whatever replaces it. As to your question about rotisserie chicken my go to is Publix for that.
It opened sometime between 1996 and 1998. I used to live around the corner and when it opened the traffic was out onto Briarcliff. It was like people had never eaten chicken before. Sad to see it decline.
The same reasons you gave of the restaurants that might be interested given the proximity to the Emory and children’s campuses, is the very reason why I believe QT will do a scrape and build or actually keep the current one open while building the new store on the Boston property, then tearing down the old building and replacing all the pumps. That is one of the busiest intersections and across way to both Decatur and 285 and the gateway into Brookhaven that’s why I believe QT will see this as an opportunity to expand.
I mentioned this location in the last BM update. Thought it was closed a long time ago; no AC, lobby closed. Then it looked empty for a long time.
AC has been broken for two years Plus. Always had the doors propped open.
for many years this street address was for a residence of the Tuggle family. But I'm not sure if the house was on this site, or possibly could have been across the street. Then the address was used by a Harry Norman office, then in the later 1990s, around 97, was used by the Boston Market.
Same thing with the chilies in Perimeter in Ashford Dunwoody, I can never tell if it’s open or closed for good. I just saw that the H&R block which had a pretty big space is gone vanished from the shopping center. I wonder if they moved somewhere or just folded operations into the call center, that shopping center is due for a rebuild with all the empty spaces, the Memphis barbecue H&R Block right next to it the wild wings, Café, the old dry cleaner on the backside of it all empty.
I live near the old HBR location and nothing seems to have been done with the property. There is a crumbling wall and there is overgrowth. The building appears to be abandoned. I went by there the other day on Monday
Sad
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