[EXCLUSIVE] Simon Shuffling Stores at Lenox and Phipps, Losing Big Name

Lenox Square opened August 3, 1959.  Phipps Plaza opened ten years later in 1969.  In the decades since the properties' original openings, Atlanta and Buckhead have changed in many ways and continue to evolve today.  

Lenox Square started as an open air mall, became enclosed, and in recent years has added shops and restaurants to better activate its exterior space.  For its part, Phipps Plaza has seen the addition of two office towers, an apartment complex, a standalone restaurant, a hotel, a gym, and a food hall, among other things, as owner Simon has sought to intensify [read: monetize] its property.  

A generation ago, visiting Lenox and Phipps was a "treat," something local and regional visitors alike would look forward to and dress up for.  Those days are long gone.  

Today Lenox and Phipps are home to multiple sets of metal detectors, K-9 Units, dozens of police officers and other features that while intended to make shoppers feel safe, for many, leave them more anxious at the need for such a thing in the Buckhead malls.  

Just another day in Lenox Square 

As the demographics of the mall have changed, so too have the stores that operate within them.  Madewell, Johnny Was and Lilly Pulitzer, among others, have closed their stores in Lenox or Phipps, opting instead for outposts in The Shops Around Lenox or Avalon in Alpharetta.  

Other retailers like Invicta, Tommy Bahama, Scotch & Soda and Vineyard Vines have closed in Lenox and Phipps and consolidated their Atlanta operations to other centers including Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, Ponce City Market and Avalon.  

Soon, two more longstanding tenants will make similar moves.  

Brahmin, a retailer specializing in handbags and wallets that has been in Lenox Square since 2010, will in January close in Lenox Square and open a new store at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody.  

Pottery Barn, which occupies more than 34,000 square feet across two floors at the mall and has been a "junior anchor" in Lenox Square for decades, is also leaving the mall.  The retailer moved to its current space within the mall in 2008 before which it occupied an upper level space now home to Pottery Barn Kids.  Store employees confirm what ToNeTo Atlanta had speculated earlier this year, which is that the company will close its Lenox Square store when it opens its new Ponce City Market store.  The closure date is fluid but is expected to take place some time in February.  Sibling brand Williams-Sonoma, which closed its longstanding store at Lenox in early 2022, already operates a store at Ponce City Market.  

(Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma are also opening new stores in the new RocaPoint Partners County Square redevelopment in downtown Greenville, SC, where Pottery Barn will move from Haywood Mall and Williams-Sonoma, which closed in the mall earlier this year, will reopen.  Haywood Mall is also owned by Simon Property Group.) 

Even mall stalwart Starbucks closed its café in Phipps Plaza.  The closure, which occurred in September, came after the coffee shop remained closed for close to two years during the pandemic and had only last year reopened.  

Vicki Hanor, senior executive vice president and managing director of luxury leasing for Simon, claimed the coffee shop shuttered to avoid cluttering one of the mall’s wings, which Hanor said would “enhance the common area.” In reality, Starbucks was likely pushed out in an effort to steer business to Ella Mia, a coffee shop in the fledgling food hall, Citizens Market.  

To consider that Simon might prioritize "enhancing the common areas" would necessitate also discounting the fact that the real estate firm employs a man whose role is to monetize space.  Patrick E. Peterman is Simon's Senior Vice President - Development and Asset Intensification and is one the executives who have spearheaded the "intensification of the asset" i.e. the recent additions of apartments, hotel, office, retail and the food hall to Phipps Plaza, among other efforts.  

Directional signage for Ella Mia where Starbucks previously stood 

In an October interview with The AJC, Hanor also said "As part of Simon’s investment campaign, cherry wood facades throughout Phipps were painted white to reinforce the shopping center’s air of prestige."  Whitewashing things - furniture, houses, paneling, banisters - has been popular in recent years but to say it reinforces an air of prestige seems like a stretch.  

Across the street from Phipps Plaza, The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead whitewashed much of their rich mahogany wood paneling and installed largely white wallpaper elsewhere.  This misguided "renovation" was followed by the loss of the hotel's AAA Five Diamond status and reflagging of the property into The Whitley.  

Despite losing stores, both Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square continue to add new stores, too.  In many cases however, the "new" stores are really just stores moving from one mall to the other, relocating from Buckhead Village District or opting to operate stores in both malls.  

Four luxury retailers — Balenciaga, Gucci, Fendi and Tiffany & Co. — now operate stores in both Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza.

Zegna and Cartier relocated from Lenox Square to Phipps Plaza while Etro, Akris, Brunello Cucinelli and Jimmy Choo have relocated from Buckhead Village District to Phipps Plaza.  Kate Spade is expected to early next year relocate from Phipps Plaza (back) to Lenox Square. (Kate Spade previously occupied a roughly 2,500 square foot space in the Neiman Marcus-anchored "Luxury Wing."  It's not clear where exactly the store is moving but with Casper's lease likely coming up for renewal soon, and the company not doing well, their space makes a lot of sense for Kate Spade.  

Balmain, Canada Goose and Zimmermann all made their Atlanta debuts by opening in Phipps Plaza.  Christian Louboutin and Hermes are expected to debut their own stores in Phipps in 2024 at which time they would close their existing shops in Buckhead Village District.  One of the more recent and baffling openings at Phipps was the debut of Paradise Grills, a Florida-based retailer specializing in grills and other outdoor entertainment merchandise.  

Over at Lenox Square, several existing retailers are planning to downsize or relocate elsewhere in the mall in 2024.  The one exception being Gucci which is in fact moving & expanding its store within the mall and is being joined by Moncler which is relocating from Buckhead Village District.  

According to employees and permits filed with the City of Atlanta, J. Crew will next year relocate to the mall's second level.  Their new store, which is about 20 per cent smaller than its current shop, has recently played host to temporary  locations of Louis Vuitton and Victoria's Secret, but was for many years an Apple store before the company relocated to their big new flagship store at the front of the mall in November 2020.    

Also downsizing is Banana Republic, which according to a separate permit, will return some of its sales space back to landlord (Simon).  Across two floors, Gap-owned Banana Republic currently occupies nearly 20,000 square feet.  Steve Madden is also moving within the mall, leaving the first floor and heading upstairs to the former Corner Bakery.  

Popular cupcake shop Cami Cakes abruptly closed in the mall in November but remains opens in a similar location in Cumberland Mall near Smyrna.  Amazingly, premium denim retailer True Religion, which closed its shop in the "Luxury Wing" at Lenox Square years ago, has returned to the market, with a bigger store, but at Cumberland Mall. 

Sandro, an upscale French line, is opening in the mall in the space previously occupied by Madewell.  Also debuting in the mall and like Sandro, in the state, is Maje, an approachable luxury retailer of women's apparel.  Planning documents reviewed by ToNeTo Atlanta combined with a permit filed by the retailer suggest they may open in the roughly 1,500 square foot current first floor Steve Madden space.  Both Sandro and Maje are owned by French-holding company SMCP Group.  

In a move rarely made by Lenox Square (or Simon), the mall announced in May 2023 that The Webster, a multi-brand retailer, would be opening in the mall in 2024.  There was no mention of where in the mall it would open or when in 2024 it would debut.  At least one of those questions has been answered with sources telling us that they will occupy the roughly 10,400, soon to be former J. Crew on the mall level near Starbucks.  

As for the gaping hole left by the departure of Pottery Barn, sources with knowledge of the mall's leasing efforts tell ToNeTo Atlanta that SKIMS, the shapewear company part-owned by Kim Kardashian, is likely to take some of the space while a Chanel "fragrance & beauty" shop is also slated to join the mall.  

SKIMS has been on a big marketing push in Atlanta

Skims began as a direct-to-consumer business in 2019, but it since has dabbled in physical retail through relationships with department stores such as Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. In recent months, Skims has opened temporary pop-ups in locations like London’s Selfridges department store and Rockefeller Center in New York.  Executives have said they are looking to open at least four stores next year and speed up expansion once those are in place. The company reportedly plans to open at least four stores in 2024, including West Hollywood and New York with others possible in Dallas, Atlanta and Miami.

"Kim and I can envision a future where years from now there's a Skims store anywhere in the world you'd find an Apple store or a Nike store," said Jens Grede, co-founder and chief executive officer of Skims.  

Skims is seen by many as a rival to Atlanta-based SPANX, another shapewear company founded by entrepreneur Sarah Blakely, which previously expanded into retail - and for a time had plans for a flagship in Atlanta - but now seems focused on retail partners and wholesale accounts.  

Skims opening, while cool for the city and another retailer the mall can promote as "first to market" is, like Savage Fenty by Rihanna, a further reflection of the change in the demographics and typical consumer at the mall.   

No doubt aware of the changes and challenges facing its mall business, Simon Property Group, owner of Phipps Plaza and Lenox Square, among other malls, last fall closed on its "strategic partnership" with Jamestown, owner of both Ponce City Market and Buckhead Village, among other properties.  Simon acquired a 50 percent stake in Jamestown for an undisclosed amount.

What are your thoughts on the current state of Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza?  Do you find yourself shopping at Lenox and Phipps more or less than in years past? Do you go elsewhere to shop instead?  Do you feel safe shopping at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza?

Please share your thoughts below.