Monday, May 27, 2024

[SPECIAL] Cobb County Roundup

If you are looking to fill up at the gas station at Costco at Cumberland Mall, you'll be waiting longer than usual. According to signage at the popular wholesale club, their fuel center is due to close May 28th for "about 35 days."  

The closure is to allow time and space for Costco to expand the capacity of their incredibly busy center.  Multiple Costco management members have in years past indicated that the fuel center at Cumberland Mall is Costco's busiest on the east coast.  When the Costco store and fuel center opened in place of a former JCPenney in November 2006, there were twelve fueling pumps.  Given the continued rise in popularity of the area in addition to the opening of Truist Park in 2017, the added capacity is definitely needed.  Preliminary site work started several weeks ago but the closure will allow for further enhancements and the addition of eight pumps, a fifty percent increase in capacity!  A Costco manager indicated that plans call for the station to reopen as soon as June 28, weather and work permitting.  

Liberty Pizza in Marietta has closed.  Husband and wife owners and New Jersey natives Gerry and Michelle McCrudden opened the New York-style pizzeria in Powers Ferry Plaza aka Micro Center Plaza (1275 Powers Ferry Road) in May 2015 and had a solid 4.5 star rating on Yelp and 4.6 star rating on Google with about 900 reviews.  That said, the restaurant and its roughly 1,900 square foot space seemed to have been unable to attract enough repeat business to remain open.  The owners established a GoFundMe in May 2023 with the goal of raising $25,000 to aid them in remaining in business.  An update from Michelle this past January indicated that they "didn't come close to reaching our goal" so all donations were refunded.  The restaurant officially closed May 25.  

Multiple ToNeTo Atlanta readers alerted us this week to the closure of On the Border in Kennesaw.  The Tex Mex restaurant was located in a freestanding building at 790 Cobb Place Boulevard, not far from Costco, just off Barrett Parkway.  It's unclear when the restaurant closed but one source suggested it could have been as long ago as February.  ToNeTo Atlanta reported on the chain's Buford closure this past January and was subsequently informed that the Alpharetta restaurant on Mansell Road just off 400 also closed earlier this year.  The chain started in Dallas, Texas in 1982 and as of an April 2024 release, still claims to be "the world's largest Mexican casual dining brand," but has shrunk from more than 160 locations globally in 2010 to about 125 today.  On The Border has since 2014 been owned by Buckhead-based private equity firm Argonne Capital Group.  Following the closures, the lone Atlanta area location is in Buckhead at Buckhead Station shopping center.  

Texas Roadhouse is on the move.  According to a real estate source with knowledge of the transaction, Texas Roadhouse plans to open a new restaurant at 2501 Cobb Place Boulevard where it will replace a former Joe's Crab Shack that has sat vacant since the seafood eatery's 2019 closure.  ToNeTo Atlanta reported in 2021 that Food Terminal was to open in the space, but the Malaysian eatery never opened.  Louisville-based Texas Roadhouse already operates a restaurant at 2475 Barrett Creek Parkway, about 1.5 miles away, but that location will close when the new restaurant opens.  That restaurant, officially with a Marietta address, opened in 2003 and was one of the first 30 locations of the now 620+ unit chain.  In Barrett Pavilion, Texas Roadhouse joins Zama which opened in March 2023 in the former Rafferty's which had closed in 2021.  The new Texas Roadhouse will be about 8,000 square feet and is shooting for an opening by the end of the year.  In addition to the current and upcoming Cobb County restaurant, Texas Roadhouse also operates several other Atlanta area restaurants including those in Cartersville, Rome, and Hiram, among others.  

Also joining Texas Roadhouse in Barrett Pavilion is a new Planet Fitness.  The new gym franchise is being opened by existing multi-unit Planet Fitness franchisee Eclipse Fitness Group, an Orlando-based group.  Planet Fitness is opening at 2500 Cobb Place Lane where it replaces the former buybuy Baby.  A source close to the property tells ToNeTo Atlanta that the new Planet Fitness is slated to open September 1.    

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to hear about Liberty Pizza closing. I just heard about it a few months ago, and the pizza I had was fantastic. I was actually organizing a drawer this past Friday and came across the menu and told my wife we needed to go there again soon. Best of luck to the owners.

Anonymous said...

At the expense of parking which they can’t afford to lose. No one is going to park in the Macy’s deck to shop at Costco.

Anonymous said...

I’m sad to see On the Border going down. Pre-Covid, the Pleasant Hill location was our default “can’t decide what to eat, let’s just go to On the Border” restaurant, so we ate there a lot.

Post-Covid, all the locations have been struggling. Usually understaffed, and the food has really gone downhill, often stale or old and sometimes not even fully heated through. I went to the Buckhead location last week and the beans weren’t even hot enough to melt the cheese on top, the enchilada shells were crispy (not in a good way - just hard), and the chips tasted like a cardboard box.

It’s too bad what’s become of them, but in their current state, they just aren’t worth it even for a very loyal customer like me.

Anonymous said...

Is the plan for Texas Roadhouse to relocate to the Cobb Place spot from Barrett, or are they going to run both of them? The one on Barrett is always busy enough that there's probably the business to spread around.

Anonymous said...

From the article above “Texas Roadhouse already operates a restaurant at 2475 Barrett Creek Parkway, about 1.5 miles away, but that location will close when the new restaurant opens. “

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...