Thursday, March 6, 2025

Bits & Bites

David Abes of DASH Hospitality will open his latest concept, Good Vibes Ice Cream Shop & Soda Pop in Dunwoody Village (5503 Chamblee Dunwoody Road) Thursday March 6.  The new shop replaces a former Bruster's Ice Cream which closed in 2024.  Abes, formerly an executive at Here to Serve and Buckhead Life, among other groups, has become a fixture in Dunwoody Funwoody with an ever growing roster of family-friendly concepts including BAR{n} booze {n} bites, Morty's Meat & Supply, Message In A Bottle, a seafood restaurant and Yoffi, a Mediterranean eatery.   

Local jeweler D. Geller & Son has closed its shop at Akers Mill Square.  The store previously relocated from Cumberland Square North, a Goodwill thrift store anchored shopping center about 1.5 miles away.  Following the closure, two locations remain: Roswell Road in Sandy Springs and Barrett Parkway in Kennesaw.  

A new Pet Supplies Plus store is opening in the former Dollar Tree in Cambridge Square shopping center in Brookhaven.  Dollar Tree closed in the roughly 8,100 square foot space this past December.  The Michigan-based pet store franchise operates several Atlanta area stores in Smyrna, Marietta, Lilburn, Buford and Cumming.  Pet Supplies Plus will join Brooklyn Bagel & Deli as new tenants in the soon-to-be Publix-anchored shopping center.  

CVS Pharmacy quietly closed its longstanding store in Buckhead Triangle shopping center - 3637 Peachtree Road - as of February 6.  The space, in the early 2000s rumored to have been considered for a Dean & Deluca, was for many years before CVS, home to once popular footwear retailer Just For Feet.  Following the closure, the drugstore remains open in many locations nearby, including those at 3221 Peachtree Road (about 1.5 miles away) and 2910 Buford Highway (about 1.9 miles away).  There is no word yet on what may fill the roughly 15,400 square foot former CVS.   

J. Crew Factory opened its latest Atlanta area store in February at Powers Ferry Square in Chastain Park.  The new store measures about 4,500 square feet and is located beside existing anchor HomeGoods.  The retailer's "Factory" stores are essentially outlet stores by another name and stock merchandise exclusively produced for the off-price channel.  ToNeTo Atlanta first reported on the planned opening in Chastain Park this past August. In recent years the company has added similar Factory stores to Merchants Walk in East Cobb, The Forum in Peachtree Corners, and Toco Hills in Atlanta.  

Moe's Southwest Grill has closed its longstanding location at 2354 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.  The restaurant, one of the oldest continuously operating units in the Atlanta-based franchise system, was located in an outparcel of the Kroger-anchored Centennial Village shopping center.  (Moe's, which started in Atlanta in 2000, is today owned by Atlanta-based private equity firm Roark and its affiliate company, GoTo Foods.)  Its closure in late January reportedly caught many locals by surprise. Franchisee Shahid Panjwani previously planned to relocate the burrito shop to a new strip center nearby but ultimately decided to partner with others and bring a new fried chicken chain - Layne's Chicken Fingers - to the space instead. Panjwani previously operated a second Moe's in the food court of North Point Mall in Alpharetta, but it closed a few years ago.  The former Roswell Moe's, along with the former Kohl's and former Rite Aid are all part of an overall 15.5 acre property (Centennial Village) purchased by Eagle's Nest Church in early 2023, where the church plans to relocate and expand their existing house of worship and add other uses as part of their "Project SOAR" initiative. The church tapped Atlanta's Regent Partners to redevelop the property, but it's unclear what its current status is.  

McAlister's Deli will soon be moving its Roswell restaurant from the Publix-anchored Kings Market (1425 Market Place Boulevard) to the former Boston Market (1555 Holcomb Bridge Road) nearby.  

A new location of cosmetics retailer Ulta is coming to Heritage Hills shopping center in Austell.  Planning documents indicate that Ulta will occupy a 9,100 square foot space in the center that as ToNeTo Atlanta has previously reported, has in recent years gone through a significant transformation.  Buckhead-based real estate firm Garner Group purchased Heritage Hills, a 219,165 square foot shopping center at 1355 East-West Connector, at the end of 2020 and has added several new tenants to the property and increased the overall appeal of the center.  Floor & Decor opened a new store in the center this past September, with Olive Garden expected to open a new restaurant in an outparcel near LongHorn Steakhouse later this month.  Ulta operates more than a dozen stores around metro Atlanta including those in Toco Hills, Buckhead, Dunwoody, Alpharetta, and near Smyrna in Heritage Pavilion along Cobb Parkway.  

Big Dave's Cheesesteaks owner Derrick Hayes quietly replaced The Queso Shop (a sibling eatery of Yumbii which remains open) at Toco Hills with a new eatery called "Sea Boyz."  According to social media postings, the roughly 1,000 square foot restaurant opened in December but is strangely not listed on the property's site plan from owner Edens, nor does it have a Google page.  While a sparse website exists, it has no menu, and ordering is seemingly only offered via a Toast Tab page linked from the eatery's Instagram page.  According to the menu, the least expensive entree is six jumbo shrimp with hushpuppies and corn ($18.50) with other items starting at $45 and going up to $125 for "jumbo live Blue Crabs."  The restaurant's hours are also a bit odd with a 9AM opening on Wednesdays, closed all day Thursdays, 2 PM opening on Saturdays, and 4PM opening every other day.    

The former DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Atlanta North Druid Hills - Emory Area is now known as The Brookhaven Atlanta Hotel.  The change officially took place as of February 1.  The 209 room, nine story hotel located just off I-85 sites on roughly 2.2 acres and first opened in 1970 but  was before DoubleTree flagged as a Holiday Inn (IHG) and before that Travelodge Hotel (Wyndham).  The newly independent hotel  is being marketed for sale by Berkadia Hotels & Hospitality with the firm suggesting it  represents opportunities as a "value add" though brand conversion or could be a possible multifamily conversion.  

In Buckhead, the former Atlanta Marriott Hotel & Conference Center located at 3405 Lenox Road across from Lenox Square, also re-flagged in recent weeks.  The hotel is now the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center.  The 352 room hotel was built in 1973 and before the Marriott's 2009 opening, was known as "The Buckhead Hotel." 

Big Peach Running Co. plans to open its newest Atlanta area store at Shops at Silver Comet (4624 Camp Highland Road) in Smyrna.  The new 2,200 square foot store, the locally owned company's thirteenth in Georgia and fourteenth overall, is expected to open later this year and joins other area stores in Kennesaw, East Cobb, and Cartersville.  

A new Italian eatery called Nonna Dora is expected to open soon in the former Buon Fornello space in the Publix at Perimeter shopping center (1100 Hammond Drive) in Sandy Springs. Buon Fornello opened in late 2019 and closed quietly in late 2024.  There is little known yet about Nonna Dora but their website suggests it may have similar offerings to those of its predecessor.  

A second location of locally owned Cafe Comma is planned for Sandy Springs.  The new coffee shop and cafe is opening in place of CraveWell Cafe, which closed this past November. The roughly 1,300 square foot space originally opened as a Clean Juice.  The first Cafe Comma opened in Vinings in June 2020.   The Sandy Springs cafe is located on the street level of The Morgan apartments (6125 Roswell Road) but is actually located on Denmark Drive. The first location is in Vinings.  

A new Jared jewelry store is planned for the former Wachovia Wells Fargo bank branch in Buckhead.  The bank building, located at 3465 Buckhead Loop, was not to be demolished according to city documents but ultimately was leading some industry insiders to question the status of the project. Jared, a wholly owned subsidiary of jewelry powerhouse Signet, has existing Atlanta area locations at Park Place in Dunwoody across from Perimeter Mall, in Duluth on Pleasant Hill Road near Gwinnett Place Mall, and on Turner Hill Road in Lithonia near The Mall at Stonecrest, among others.  Zales, Kay, and Blue Nile, each with their own stores locally, are also part of the Signet family of brands. 

Starbucks has temporarily closed their popular location in Buckhead Landing (3330 Piedmont Road) to complete a significant renovation and minor expansion.  The coffee shop expects to reopen later this spring.    

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't understand Sea Boyz. I can't believe they still haven't established much online presence except for Instagram videos I'm not going to watch.

Anonymous said...

That old Travelodge used to be a fun place for business meetings. Lots of “business” went on there. I think it was a Hilton before that.

Anonymous said...

I work at Centennial Village and the Kroger there is in desperate need of renovation. I remember when it was a 24-hour store about 25 years ago. I ate at that Moe's twice and got real sick both times. Never went back. I would like to see the small strip area that is next door to the Kroger gas station where T Mobile and Pizza Hut are expanded. I haven't heard of anything in terms of renovation or stores leaving.

Anonymous said...

I remember the former DoubleTree being a THF (Trust House Forte) hotel for many years. This is/was a major European brand. I wonder why DoubleTree pulled it's branding. I have stayed in several over the years and not impressed at all. Room is either dirty or the service is sub-par. The Roswell GA location has very rude front desk employees. They won't transfer calls to a room unless you know the room number (it's not enough to mention the guest name.) My director stays there and it is like pulling teeth trying to get the front desk to leave a message.

Anonymous said...

Doubletrees are all old, they all used to be some other brand(s) and are usually not as well kept. And don’t dare ask for another bottle of water or a cookie. They’ll act like it’s costing them $20 a bite.

Anonymous said...

It’s the slutty vegan owners husband

Anonymous said...

I pass by the McAllister's construction almost daily and it appears to have halted for the past several weeks. Very surprised that there would be a McAllister's there since there is/was one in the Publix shopping center down the road. Not sure what is going on with that part of HBR. The Bank of America that closed several months ago is still vacant as is the home improvement place that was across the street which moved out to Marietta. It also looks like AGN Autos (which was a former bank) is winding down and concentrating on more Penske rental trucks than used cars.

Anonymous said...

Also forgot to add, the restaurant on the corner that was the Monterey Mexican Restaurant that morphed into another Mexican eatery has closed. They were not open too long. It's the place next door to the Great Clips. Everytime I went into Monterey or passed by it, it was ALWAYS busy then it shut down with no notice. It looks like the liquor that was on the shelves behind the beer taps is gone. In the same shopping center, the liquor store in between the T Mobile and Pizza Hut has a sign out front that says "Under New Management." (Not sure if it is new ownership or not.)

Anonymous said...

How do you know his wife is slutty? Seems pretty rude.

Anonymous said...

O thought it was a Montgomery Ward there once a long time ago?

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