Bits & Bites

Assorted pies from Southern Bakes Pie Company 

Amanda Wilbanks and her husband Alex recently opened their third location of their gourmet pie shop,  Southern Baked Pie Company.   Located in Alpharetta's new The Atwater center across from Avalon, the shop is situated alongside Pieology, Bezoria, Firebirds Wood Fire Grill and Starbucks, among other tenants.   Shortly before the Alpharetta opening, the couple opened in Buckhead Commons, a small strip center across from the old IHOP on Peachtree Road in Buckhead.  The couple's original location, which opened in 2012, is just off Athens Highway on Broad Street in Gainesville, near Brenau University.   Mrs. Wilbanks is a UGA grad and  won the grand prize at UGA’s 2016 "Flavor of Georgia" contest with her caramel pecan pie earlier this year . 

As I hinted at in early June, the former Borders Books & Music at East West Commons in Austell is destined for demolition.  The 25,000 square foot freestanding space been sitting vacant since the media retailer closed all of its stores in 2011.  Demolition could begin as soon as this month with plans calling for the construction of two new buildings.  A 4,300 square foot freestanding building would house a Panera Bread while a separate approximately 10,000 square foot building would house as many as four other tenants.   Thus far, Moe's Southwest Grill has committed to a 2,240 square foot space and Vitamin Shop  has committed to a 3,003 square foot space.   A total of 5,265 square feet of space remains available for as many as two adjacent spaces.   

Jacksonville, FL-based Regency Centers has purchased competing firm, New York-based Equity One for about $4.6 billion in a deal that will form an entity with $15.6 billion in market capitalization.  Locally, both firms own a number of popular centers.  Equity One owns three successful Buckhead properties: Buckhead Station, Piedmont Peachtree Crossing and Chastain Square.  Regency owns Paces Ferry Plaza, Buckhead Court, Powers Ferry Square, Brighten Park, Howell Mill Village and Dunwoody Village, among others.  Additionally, both firms have large redevelopment plans in the works at two of their centers in Buckhead.  Regency is adding a new 365 by Whole Foods Market to its Paces Ferry Plaza center while Equity One plans to  completely redevelop its Piedmont Peachtree Crossing center.  

A new location of Amici Pizza is planned for  Atlanta Highway in  Gainesville.  The restaurant will open in the Chicopee Crossing shopping center and is slated to debut early next year.    The locally based restaurant concept has been around for over 20 years with other locations sprinkled around Athens, Covington, Lake Oconee, Madison, Milledgeville, Conyers and Monroe.  The new Gainesville location will reportedly be opened by the same franchisee as the Athens restaurant.  

A new Cracker Barrel is planned for vacant land on Ross Place, just off  I-85, in Lavonia.  

A new store called Sweet River has opened at Atlantic Station near Publix.  The boutique retailer opened in place of K-la, the original tenant, and Sole Shoes & Accessories and Demure, subsequent tenants.  Sweet River carries assorted gifting and clothing items from the likes of Kate Spade and Rifle Paper Co., among others. Owner Tiffany Miller operates similar stores in downtown Woodstock and downtown Covington.  

In addition to its upcoming store at Buckhead Exchange in Buckhead, Sephora is also opening a new location at The Avenue East Cobb in East Cobb.  

Desiree Nathanson has opened her new fitness studio, Interfusion Fitness, at Northeast Plaza on Buford Highway in Brookhaven.  The studio specializes in sports/fitness training, dance fitness, yoga, and barre.

A new Dollar Tree is planned for a former CVS Pharmacy on New Macland Road in Powder Springs.  The freestanding CVS (in a former Revco building) closed earlier this year.  Freestanding former pharmacies are especially popular with dollar store retailers given their premier visibility and simple layout.  A  former Eckerd turned Rite Aid that closed across the street from the upcoming Dollar Tree operates today as a Dollar General.  

Warner Robins will be getting a second Cook Out next year.  The new restaurant will open in place of a former Buffalo's Southwest Cafe on Watson Boulevard that will be demolished to make way for the new restaurant.  The first Cook Out in Warner Robins opened last year on Russell Parkway in a one time Hardee's turned Checkers.  Additional Cook Out locations are planned for Cobb Parkway across from the Big Chicken, in Fort Oglethorpe on Battlefield Parkway and in Winder on West May Street.  A previously announced location on South Cobb Drive at Pat Mell Road that would have replaced a former Krystal seems to be indefinitely on hold.  

ToNeTo Atlanta reader Chris Barton started a Change.org petition earlier today in hopes of persuading Target to keep open their SuperTarget store on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.  News of the stores closure (planned for January 28th, 2017) was broken exclusively by ToNeTo Atlanta last week and has now been viewed by about 10,000 people.  As of 1:20PM today, the petition had only 12 supporters.