[EXCLUSIVE] One Time Suburban Toy Store to Reopen This Fall as a New Thrift Store

A new thrift store is coming to Kennesaw.  Planning documents reviewed by ToNeTo Atlanta indicate that a new Savers thrift store is coming to Town Center Station (501 Roberts Ct.) 

The Kennesaw Savers will open in place of a short-lived Joann which was for many years before, home to the beloved and dearly missed Toys R Us. 

The new Savers will be the first "new" store in metro Atlanta for the Bellevue, Washington-based company.  Savers Value Village acquired Value Village (2 Peaches Group, LLC) in May 2024 and its then seven stores around metro Atlanta.  

In the years since, and despite having spent time and money renovating several of the stores, the company has closed all but three legacy Value Village stores in metro Atlanta.  The three remaining stores include:

1416 Dogwood Drive, Conyers

2281 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville

3435 Memorial Drive, Decatur

The company in April closed its store at 4749 Jonesboro Road in Forest Park.

The Conyers location seems to be the only local store to currently carry the "Savers" name, according to the company's website.  

Savers is, of course, one of several thrift store operators in metro Atlanta. Another, Park Avenue Thrift, has seven stores in metro Atlanta plus an outlet in Lawrenceville, too.  The most dominant player, however, is Goodwill Industries and their Atlanta affiliate, Goodwill of North Georgia, which operates more than seventy stores across the northern portion of the state.  

Each operator has some kind of charitable component, but the fact that Savers Value Village is a publicly traded company makes it decidedly different.  "The Savers® Family of Thrift stores is the largest for-profit thrift operator in the United States and Canada," says the company on its website.  

Interestingly, the Savers website also has the following messaging at the top of its homepage: 

"We are a for-profit company that champions reuse. Shopping in our stores doesn’t support any nonprofit, but donating your reusable goods does. We pay nonprofits for your stuff, helping them fund programs in our communities. TVI, Inc. is a registered professional fundraiser where required."

Additionally, each of the three current Atlanta area locations indicate "Donations of used clothing and household items at this location benefit American Red Cross." 

Have you been to a Savers thrift store before?  What is your favorite Atlanta area thrift store?  What is the best thing you have ever found at a thrift store?

Please share your thoughts below.