Bits & Bites

The Toco Hills location of indie vendor business Westside Market is closing on December 31.  The market opened in March 2018 and was the second location to open of the locally owned business.  The roughly 14,000 square foot space was far smaller than the flagship and original location on Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard which measures about 85,000 square feet.  Real estate sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the Toco Hills location struggled financially for years and that its size limited its sales potential.  The store was reportedly on a short-term lease that was not renewed, with the landlord (Edens) opting to pursue a long-term lease with another, as yet undisclosed, tenant.  Following its closure at Toco Hills, the original Westside location will remain open as well another on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell and one in Greenville, South Carolina.  

[EXCLUSIVE] High Profile Former Arby's to Become Thrilling New Business

After sitting idle for nearly eight months, activity was spotted in recent days at the former Arby's at 4415 Roswell Road in Chastain Park.  Although we heard of the would-be replacement late last year, we held out hope that something more exciting might swoop in as the deal was then not yet done.  

[EXCLUSIVE] Raising Cane's Continues Atlanta Expansion With New Location Bound For Barrett Parkway

ToNeTo Atlanta continues to be your number one source for updates on the Atlanta market entry of Raising Cane's and we are pleased to report that another Raising Cane's is in the works!  A new Raising Cane's is planned for Kennesaw where it would replace a former retail store.     

[EXCLUSIVE] Kacey's Home Cooking Closing, Growing Bank Eyes Space

Kacey's Home Cooking, a Tucker area mainstay for more than a decade, will soon close for good.  The restaurant, located at 3925 LaVista Road at its intersection with Montreal Road, is slated to close at the end of June.  A local developer that previously replaced an old Tucker area Wells Fargo with a new Starbucks and Willy's Mexicana Grill among other tenants, has the Kacey's property under contract with plans to replace it with a bank. 

Bits & Bites

Big Lots is closing its longstanding store at East Cobb Station along Roswell Road in Marietta.  The store, which includes not only the Columbus, Ohio-based retailer's typical product mix but also a separate furniture showroom, started their liquidation sale May 23 offering "up to 30% off the entire store" with "nothing held back."  The sale, however, excludes ALL food which is a good 20 percent of the store.  There is no word yet on what may replace the roughly 32,000 square foot space.  

Bits & Bites

Krispy Kreme has closed its donut box kiosk at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody.  The shop closed just before the new year.   The doughnut shop opened in late 2019 in place of a kiosk that used to house an outpost of Carlo's Bakery, owned by "Cake Boss" owner Bartolo "Buddy" Valastro, Jr.  A former Carlo's Bakery at Cumberland Mall today operates as an outpost of Cami Cakes, a local cupcake shop.  

Bits & Bites

A new bb.q Chicken - Korea's Finest Fried Chicken plans to open in Decatur. The new franchise restaurant will open at 319 West Ponce de Leon Avenue where it will open in place of Pho King, which closed at the end of 2021.  The roughly 2,600 square foot space originally debuted in early 2016 as an outpost of Taziki's Mediterranean Café.  Seoul, South Korea-based bb.q Chicken has existing Atlanta area locations in Doraville, Duluth, Johns Creek and Suwanee. 

Bits & Bites

Copper Coin in Woodstock is closing.  The locally owned coffee shop announced its planned closure Tuesday in message posted to its Facebook page.  "It’s with a heavy heart that Copper Coin announces it will be permanently closing on Saturday, September 3, 2022.  Rising food costs combined with new discretionary spending trends prohibit us from renewing our upcoming five-year lease.  To our many customers, fans, remote-work guests, and fellow coffee addicts—THANK YOU."  Copper Coin started as Old Woodstock Coffee House in 2010 before moving from Uptown to Downtown Woodstock in 2011.  Copper Coin founder Mike Gullicksen went through ill-advised expansions to Brookhaven and Cumming, both of which subsequently closed.  Gullicksen sold the Woodstock business in 2017 to Randy Altmann, who in turn sold the business to Chantel Adams and her husband this past October.  

Bits & Bites

House of Hummus is now open in Cumming.  The new eatery, the sibling to the restaurant by the same name in Alpharetta, is located in The Shops at Brannon Crossing across from The Collection at Forsyth in Cumming.  House of Hummus serves a variety of Mediterranean favorites and occupies a 1,200 square foot endcap space complete with an expansive outdoor patio.  Owner Samar Hadlow opened the original House of Hummus at Steinway Promenade on North Point Parkway, not far from North Point Mall, in early 2014.

Bits & Bites

A new restaurant called "Sister" has opened at Hotel Colee at 3377 Peachtree Road in Buckhead.  The restaurant opens in place of Cook Hall, which closed at the hotel, formerly the W Atlanta Buckhead, at the end of 2020.  Sister "soft opened" Friday July 1 with a breakfast and lunch menu but is expected to add a dinner menu and "grand open" in a couple of weeks, according to an employee at the restaurant.  Sister is the third newly introduced hotel restaurant to open within blocks of one another in the past few months.  Brassica, a new "French-Southern," restaurant debuted at the Waldorf Astoria Atlanta Buckhead in late March, while "celebrity Chef" Scott Conant opened an outpost of his Italian eatery "The Americano" at the InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta in late May.  

Bits & Bites

Floor & Decor (NYSE: FND) will reopen its original Northeast Expressway store in Brookhaven July 25.  The store, the company's first, opened in 2000 and was completely demolished in late 2021 to make way for a new 80,000 square foot flagship store replacement.  In other Floor & Decor news, the company is also opening a "Design Studio" at Tower Place in Buckhead.  ToNeTo Atlanta was first to report on the planned opening this past January but visible work has only recently commenced on the former restaurant space along Piedmont Road.  

Bits & Bites

Popeyes is opening a new location in the food court at Lenox Square in Buckhead.  The popular chicken chain is opening in a space most recently occupied by Checkers in a food court already home to  Ponko Chicken and Chick-fil-A.  ToNeTo Atlanta reported April 28 that Popeyes is also opening a new location in the food court at Cumberland Mall near Smyrna.  The formerly Sandy Springs-based company, which is today based in Miami, boasts more than 3,500 locations worldwide.  

[CHA CHING] TD Bank entering Atlanta Market

At a time when several banks are reducing their branch network, one financial institution has a different idea.  TD Bank, headquartered in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is planning to enter the Atlanta market, according to a new LinkedIn post from its area real estate broker.  The post did not indicate how many branches the bank wants to open but did shed some light on the kinds of locations they seek. 

[SMILE!] A Growing Dental Practice Has Georgia on its Mind

With Atlanta already saturated with burger joints, mattress shops and car washes, a Texas dental business is looking to cover the area with at least a dozen facilities.  MINT dentistry, created by Dr. Field Harrison in Dallas, Texas in 2009, currently has four Atlanta area locations open with at least seven, and potentially as many as eight more in various stages of development.  While we at ToNeTo Atlanta don't specialize in dental news, we found the volume and locations of the planned offices especially noteworthy.  

Bits & Bites

Popeyes is opening in the Cumberland Mall food court.  A new Popeyes will join the food roster opening between American Deli and Mandarin Express in a space previously leased to "The Original Hot Dog Factory."  The hot dog franchise never opened, with real estate sources calling the concept "half-baked."  ToNeTo Atlanta reported March 15 that Fuddruckers will also open in the food court.

Bits & Bites

Faherty Brand will make its Atlanta debut in The Shops Around Lenox in a space vacated at the end of 2021 by Reese Witherspoon's Draper James. Started by twin brothers Alex and Mike Faherty in 2013, Faherty has grown to include more than thirty stores nationwide in addition to being offered in more than 300 specialty stores which in Atlanta include Miller Brothers and H Stockton.  Its aesthetic, "about the beach," was described as "surf hippie" by The New York Times. Faherty offers clothing and accessories for men, women and kids. 

[EXCLUSIVE] Big Bank Buys Out Buckhead Burger Business

Buckhead's Steak 'n Shake will likely soon close to make way for something far more exciting: Chase Bank.  The 3,517 square foot restaurant, located at 3380 Northside Parkway, is slated to be demolished and replaced by a new, 3,289 square foot Chase Bank, according to permits filed with the City of Atlanta.  Chase will spend about $1.5 million to build the new branch.  Fulton County tax records indicate that the Columbus, Ohio-based bank paid $4.2 million for the just over half acre site at the end of 2020.  

Bits & Bites

Fifth Third Bank plans to open a new branch in Roswell.  The Cincinnati-based bank plans to convert the existing Arby's restaurant at 665 West Crossville Road into a new bank branch.  The Arby's, which closed in the Trader Joe's anchored Roswell Crossing shopping center in late 2019, originally opened in 1999.  This marks at least the second time that the bank has taken over a former quick-serve restaurant building in metro Atlanta having previously converted the one-time El Pollo Loco along Buford Highway in Chamblee into a bank.  Elsewhere in metro Atlanta, Chase converted a former Pollo Tropical in Alpharetta and a former Krispy Kreme in Doraville into bank branches, while Regions demolished a former Pollo Tropical in East Cobb to build its new branch.  

Bits & Bites [Commercial Real Estate News Atlanta]

Red Phone Booth plans to hold its grand opening this coming Friday, August 13.  The new Buckhead outpost is the sibling of the Downtown location by the same name.  "Fitting of a 1920s inspired speakeasy, Red Phone Booth is unbeknownst to passersby, with only an antique London red phone booth to mark its location. While the phone booth is operational, members and their guests know that dialing a secret phone number provides access to the clandestine cocktail bar and cigar lounge."  The nearly 7,000 square foot space features a 24 foot-long walk-in humidor, nearly 50 pages of cocktails and a state-of-the-art air filtration system. 

Bits & Bites [Commercial Real Estate News Atlanta]

This post has been in the works since April so some news may be slightly outdated while other bits are as fresh as ever.  Thanks as always for your continued tips, readership, photos, tweets and "love your blog" notes - they mean more than you know!