[ALERT] Chick-fil-A to Close Longstanding Location in Town Center at Cobb

On March 31, Chick-fil-A plans to close its longstanding outlet in the food court of Town Center at Cobb in Kennesaw.  The locally owned restaurant began to inform employees and customers in recent days, citing deteriorating sales at the beleaguered mall as the primary reason for the closure.   

Credit - Chick-fil-A

The Chick-fil-A has been a mainstay in the Town Center food court since the mall's opening in 1986.  That said, the Kennesaw mall has in recent years fallen on hard times, having lost two out of its five anchors and experienced tenant turmoil with its most recent owner - Kohan Retail Investments - behind on both tax and utility bills, leading to service interruptions and a temporary closure of the entire mall.  The mall was this past June returned to lender, Deutsche Bank.   

The mall is currently anchored by JC Penney, Macy's and a Macy's men's/Macy's Furniture Gallery.  

An existing freestanding Chick-fil-A that was demolished and rebuilt in 2021 is located a little over a mile from the mall at 830 Barrett Parkway, and is said to be working to find jobs for affected employees from Town Center.  

Chick-fil-A and its operators have over the past few years shuttered several other Atlanta area food court locations including those at Northlake Mall in Tucker, North DeKalb Mall near Decatur, Phipps Plaza in Buckhead, CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta, and Gwinnett Place Mall in Duluth.  The company also closed its restaurants at Valdosta Mall in Valdosta, Peachtree Mall in Columbus, in Great Lakes Mall in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area, and in Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, among others.  

The very first Chick-fil-A opened in 1967 at Greenbriar Mall in southwest Atlanta.  It closed in 2023.  The company last July also closed its location within the food court of The Mall at Stonecrest in Lithonia.   

In some cases, however, the company has gotten creative with its food court restaurants and added drive-thru and curbside pickup to augment sluggish mall traffic and make the locations more appealing to drive-by diners.  One such food court location to offer these ordering options is at Dalton Mall in Dalton in northwest Georgia.  

The Atlanta-based company and its local owner operators continue to operate food court locations in several local malls including North Point Mall (for now) in Alpharetta, Lenox Square in Buckhead, Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody, Mall of Georgia in Buford, and Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.  The one major mall food court the restaurant is absent from and has never been part of is Sugarloaf Mills in Lawrenceville.  

Are you surprised to see Chick-fil-A close at Town Center at Cobb? What is your fondest memory of Town Center at Cobb?  What would you like to see happen to the mall in the years to come?  

Please share your thoughts below.