Duluth Barnes & Noble closing after 15 years (Acworth, Woodstock: buying, theater) - Atlanta - Georgia (GA) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

neil0311 · 05-31-2012, 02:28 PM

The Gwinnett Place area has changed quite a bit from it's heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s. I watched the mall go up, and watched the entire area around it change from a two lane road with pastures on either side and a 76 truck stop at I-85, to what it became by the early 1990s when Best Buy opened and the last of the stores were built on Steve Reynolds.

I wasn't here in the late 1990s, but my take is that the Mall of GA and the move further out to north Gwinnett put the nails into the coffin. I visited here in 2001 to see some friends and the mall was already starting to change, and the areas near the mall and to the south were starting to show signs of the large illegal population that was moving in. The clientele was changing and that had a big impact.

As for B&N closing....book stores that sell printed books really are starting to go the way of the payphone and newspaper. Technology is replacing them and digital media are taking over. They are cheaper, simpler, and more environmentally friendly.

happymama30 · 05-31-2012, 05:26 PM

I remember when Gwinnett Mall was built and it was a real treat to drive out to the mall and walk around, go to the movies, eat out etc. That was way before Ronald Reagan Pkwy too. It was a really nice mall with great stores. Slowly, but surely, the stores that I liked started to disappear and other stores opened up. Then there was gang activity at that mall and it became a place that people didn't even want to go. Just a few months ago, there was a murder right next to Aldi on Pleasant Hill Road. It is a sad and sorty of creepy area now. The only store that I even go to in that area of town is the Family Christian Bookstore. I don't even know how that has stayed open so long.

Box · 05-31-2012, 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happymama30

I remember when Gwinnett Mall was built and it was a real treat to drive out to the mall and walk around, go to the movies, eat out etc. That was way before Ronald Reagan Pkwy too. It was a really nice mall with great stores. Slowly, but surely, the stores that I liked started to disappear and other stores opened up. Then there was gang activity at that mall and it became a place that people didn't even want to go. Just a few months ago, there was a murder right next to Aldi on Pleasant Hill Road. It is a sad and sorty of creepy area now. The only store that I even go to in that area of town is the Family Christian Bookstore. I don't even know how that has stayed open so long.

The area wasn't that bad a few years ago, and still isn't really that bad aside from a few isolated incidents.

ATLTJL · 05-31-2012, 05:34 PM

It can be a little depressing and weird with all the Korean businesses there with blacked out windows that you're not sure what is going on inside and what the business actually sells (or provides).....

But I wouldn't say the area is unsafe.

happymama30 · 05-31-2012, 07:48 PM

I read the Gwinnett Mugs everyday for Duluth and there are many arrests made for strange massage parlor activities in this area(speaking of those blacked out windows) and there was just an arrest for prostitution. There are some unsafe areas of Duluth, but I don't think this bad economy has helped other than to increase shoplifting and crime. Guess it definitely gives the police some job security.

Box · 05-31-2012, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happymama30

I read the Gwinnett Mugs everyday for Duluth and there are many arrests made for strange massage parlor activities in this area(speaking of those blacked out windows) and there was just an arrest for prostitution. There are some unsafe areas of Duluth, but I don't think this bad economy has helped other than to increase shoplifting and crime. Guess it definitely gives the police some job security.

I ain't never felt threatened by a hooker.

aries4118 · 05-31-2012, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

The problems run very deep. It's not simply about Mall of Georgia opening. Some of you might remember when it first opened, it was a ghost town. Mall of Georgia really took some time to gain traction because it was so far out there. For a while, it looked like it might have even been a blunder and really stretching to build it so far away. But eventually it did gain traction, and that did hurt Gwinnett Place.

However, I think what hurt GP more was simply inner politics. Both malls were operated by Simon, and I think Simon did a lot to encourage stores to open in Mall of Georgia over GP. They pretty much cannibalized their own property in order to make the other succeed. It probably would have happened anyway, but Simon helped push it along.

I feel guilty now about the conversation I had with a cashier at B&N several months ago. It went like this:

Me: "Wow, this book is 50% cheaper on BN.com. You don't even match your own internet prices?"
Cashier: "No, they won't let us do that."
Me: "So your own company is actively trying to shut you out of a job. If I were you, I'd be very wary of working for a company that hates me so much."

I like having B&N and Borders, but the fact is, they are ridiculously behind the times. I get that brick and mortar costs more, I get that there is overhead to pay for, I'm ok with paying a premium to get a book right away rather than have to wait for it to ship. However, that premium should not be 100%. Books at bookstores are often TWICE as much as they are at Amazon, and even what they are at the retail outlets internet site. I'd pay maybe 20% or 25% more to have it now, but I'm sure as heck not going to pay DOUBLE! Shoot, I could pay for overnight shipping at Amazon and STILL get it cheaper than the bookstore.

In any case, I didn't mean to go on a tangent. I know that the brick and mortar book industry is toast, what I was trying to say is that out of 14 metro locations, B&N is ONLY closing this one. That means it isn't part of a greater strategy to divest retail locations, it's the result of an argument with the landlord or the store was just massively underperforming. I certainly hope the landlord is happy when that space sits completely empty for years instead of collecting whatever rent B&N would have paid.

Yes--it is more than just the Mall of GA opening, but that is still at the heart of it. If the Mall of GA didn't exist, Simon would not have favored one mall over the other. Gwinnett Place should still be a mall that attracts a wide socio-economic range with something for everyone--like a suburban Lenox.

Gwinnett did not need two mega-malls positioned where they are. Gwinnett Place is/was not close-in enough to be a Cumberland or Perimeter.
When Town Center was built, it did not have the same effect on Cumberland that the Mall of GA had on Gwinnett Place--since Cumberland evolved into another niche due to its "Perimeter Center-esque" characteristics.

Now, I do not think Gwinnett Place is a lost cause--at all. I have a master plan of what I would do to reinvigorate, retrofit, and "re-niche-fy" the area (and it's good!), but that, my friends, is another post.

Box · 05-31-2012, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aries4118

Now, I do not think Gwinnett Place is a lost cause--at all. I have a master plan of what I would do to reinvigorate, retrofit, and "re-niche-fy" the area (and it's good!), but that, my friends, is another post.

Oh do tell! I really do think that the area has a lot of potential.

RandyWatson13 · 05-31-2012, 09:44 PM

Damn I was there recently.

Sad

Newsboy · 05-31-2012, 10:33 PM

B&N used the old "lost our lease" excuse when they closed the store in Fayetteville last year. Truth is, they just wanted to close the store period because nobody was buying anything -- just sitting around drinking coffee and reading magazines. They replaced it with one of those Harbor Freight and Tools stores and the little strip center B&N once anchored is now healthier than before. All is not necessarily lost.