Popular gifting and stationary shop Swoozie's is shutting down...again. The company, which started in Atlanta in 2001, has been through bankruptcy and multiple owners in its nearly 25 year history, but will cease to exist as a brick and mortar business by the end of the year.
Dworkin, a veteran of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Marshall Fields, was brought to Atlanta in December 1996 to become President and CEO of Uptons, an Atlanta-based moderately priced department store. Following then owner American Retail Group's decision to discontinue the Uptons' brand in 1999, Dworkin, along with Kelly Plank, who had been Uptons' COO, opened the first Swoozie's in Buckhead in March 2001, just a few months before the fateful events of September 11.
Slowly the chain grew to include several locations in metro Atlanta as well as others in neighboring communities such as Birmingham, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Greenville.
Tragedy struck in May 2007 when Dworkin died suddenly at age 63. Under his leadership, Swoozie's had expanded to 21 stores and was a force in the industry.
Plank-Dworkin would go on to lead the company to a peak store count of 43 locations in 15 states, but the rapid expansion and challenging economy forced the company to file for bankruptcy in March 2010.
Denver-based Gart Capital Partners acquired the specialty gift and stationery retailer out of bankruptcy in June 2010 and announced plans to reopen seven Swoozie's stores and open a new store in Denver. At the time of the purchase, Gart indicated their company beat out Birmingham retailer Books-A-Million Inc. to buy Swoozie’s.
In early March 2020, just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gart made the shrewd decision to sell Swoozie's to Beyond Brands Group, the company behind Southern Living Magazine’s Southern Living stores. The result of the sale, according to a news release, would be a merged retail operation with Swoozie’s merchandise available in Southern Living stores and online and Southern Living items available through Swoozie’s stores and website. At the time of the merger, Swoozie's had ten stores and Southern Living had five.
Today there are ten Swoozie's stores and four Southern Living stores, according to their respective websites.
Signage at the Chastain Park store reads in part:
"Unfortunately, we have received news that our ownership, which is Beyond Brands, will be closing all divisions which include both Swoozie's and the Southern Living Store. While we do not know an exact timeline on what this looks like, what we DO KNOW is that every effort will be made to ensure that is not the last chapter for Swoozie's."
Beyond Brands, founded and based in Memphis, was led by CEO and owner Bill Love who like Dworkin, came from a long retail background including nearly ten years at Birmingham's beloved former department store, Parisian.
Swoozie's at The Forum began liquidation sales earlier this month and is currently offering 50 per cent off nearly all in-stock merchandise with limited selections still available. The Chastain Park store, which occupies a 5,200 square foot space in the Publix-anchored Chastain Square, is currently offering 30 per cent off of nearly all in-stock merchandise and is telling customers that they will close no later than December 31.
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| Swoozie's at The Forum Peachtree Corners |
Among the exclusions from the closing sale are all items from Jellycat and catstudio, known for their plush and pillows, respectively. That said, the store did receive plenty of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Hanukkah merchandise that is included in the sale so that you may celebrate one last Swoozie's holiday.
Are you surprised to see Swoozie's closing? What is your favorite gift store in metro Atlanta? What would you like to see open in place of Swoozie's at The Forum or in Chastain Square?
Please share your thoughts below.
24 comments:
I'm not surprised at all that they are closing. I'm surprised they stayed open so long. I like shopping in stores and would stop at their Buckhead and Forum locations. I think what they sell was pricey and somewhat outdated. In many cases shopping online was the better option. Sadly I don't have a favorite gift shop since there are not many around.
Oh yeah, it must have been the overwhelming overflow of the Lenox Mall crowd. Damn Marta!!! Rolls eyes.
I remember the first bankruptcy and subsequent reopening of the Chastain location and the one at the Forum, but have not shopped there in years. Again, I think this is just a general change in the shopping habits of consumers! It’s just way too easy to order online these days than support brick and mortar.
I am so sorry to hear this. I love the store, and will really miss it.
I will miss the Forum location. It was often a great place to find a last minute gift and the employees were always so friendly and did a nice job wrapping your gift for you.
I LOVED the Chastain Square store and popped in there often for their superb gift-wrap, stationery & greeting cards unlike any other found in Atlanta. Clearly I did not spend enough to keep them in business, my apologies for that lapse. Swoozie's will be missed...at least by me.
And your point is????
I want to sample and hold before I purchase. Unless there is something specific that I already know about, I will always check out brick and mortar. Plus there is browsing and impulse shopping which you can't really do online.
You mean Rolls Royce.
uh it's not that close to lenox. if you're going to troll, troll accurately.
I am not surprised at all. This company does not pay their vendors.
Yes they do
I am commenting as a vendor who they have not paid. If you have a different history with them, then you're lucky.
They worked their employees hard, but really didn’t take care of them. They were withdrawing their taxes out, but not paying the government. That’s how they built that huge mansion on Northside Dr. and built more stores. It takes someone to lose their job and was smart with their own records to try to collect unemployment and the government found out they weren’t paying their taxes. This is how stores go under!
eek ook ook…ahh noze wat happened .
That's true. They have never treated their employees well. It's actually disgusting to listen to how the owner Kelly speaks to them (& all the unpaid vendors with months of overdue invoices). It's honestly a blessing in disguise to all the poor workers so they can move on from this prison of employment. Good luck guys!
They have really bad reputations w vendors. The employees end up in bad positions having to explain why orders are late to frustrated vendors&angry customers. Truth is, it isn’t the employees fault. The corporate level does not take production costs from deposit the store gets from the customers to start. So when it comes time to pay for the order to be put into production, corporate level has to find a way to pay for it, which takes days sometimes weeks, making the order that much later for the customers. And they let employees take the fall for the order bein late even if they did everything right&gave enough time for them to get the money together. And still they will pressure their employees about making sales.
I was paid
That's crazy, you must be one of the lucky ones. Hopefully that luck persists!! :)
You should check out house of Hazen in Alpharetta. It’s great.
How do you know they have a bad reputation with a vendor?
They paid my company, well into the upper 5 figures. On time and in full. We’re sad to lose their good business.
You were fired for being consistently tardy. That’s why you got “yelled” at.
Hate to see them close. A really neat speciality store.
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