[WOW] Painted Tree Marketplace Abruptly Closes All Stores Including Three in Metro Atlanta

Painted Tree Marketplace abruptly closed all of its more than sixty locations across the country Tuesday.  The Arkansas-based company did not specify a reason for the sudden closures, nor did they give any warning to the thousands of vendors that operated their own small businesses from within Painted Tree stores. 

Selling itself as "The Big Way to Shop Small," each of Painted Tree's 61 stores featured hundreds of independent shop owners primarily selling handmade or other typically new items.  The stores were described as “Etsy marketplace and Pinterest catalog come to life.”   

In metro Atlanta, the company had locations in Roswell, Buford, and Snellville.

The Buford store - located in Marketplace at Millcreek - occupied a onetime DSW/Stein Mart and was the chain's first store in metro Atlanta.  The 30,000 square foot store opened in December 2019, closed for a time in March 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, and reopened weeks later.  

The Roswell store, which occupied a former Walmart Neighborhood Market/Kroger, was twice the size of the Buford store and opened in August 2021 in Sandy Plains Village.  

In Snellville, Painted Tree replaced a 32,175 square foot space that had been a Belk men's, children's, and home store at Snellville Pavilion.  The Snellville store opened in March 2022.  

The company had ten stores open at the end of 2020, but has continued to grow each year, having just this past September added its first store in Alabama where Painted Tree opened in a former Nordstrom Rack at River Ridge shopping center along Highway 280.  (Nordstrom Rack itself had earlier relocated to space within the high traffic lifestyle center "The Summit.")  

“We understand the impact this has on you and your business, and we are truly sorry. We know many of you have invested significant time, energy and resources into building your spaces at Painted Tree, and this is not the outcome any of us hoped for.”  read an email from Painted Tree Boutiques to shop owners.  

The closure of Painted Tree follows the closure this past January of Westside Market, a similar but locally owned business at Toco Hills in Atlanta.  ToNeTo Atlanta recently reported that the former Westside Market space has been leased to Barnes & Noble.  

Another similar but more antique-heavy business, Queen of Hearts, currently operates stores in Alpharetta, Marietta, and Buford, and recently announced plans to open a new location in Athens.  

As of Tuesday night, the site plans for Sandy Plains Village and Snellville Pavilion had been updated to reflect their former Painted Tree spaces as "Available," while the site plan for Marketplace at Mill Creek had not yet been updated.  

Are you surprised to see Painted Tree Marketplace close all of its stores?  Did you ever shop at one of the Atlanta area Painted Tree Marketplace stores?  What would you like to see open in place of the now former Painted Tree Marketplace stores in metro Atlanta? 

Please share your thoughts below.