Heliotrope, a Downtown Decatur staple since 2006, has closed its doors.
Walking by this evening, the store has been cleared out and a “For Lease” sign hangs in the window.
Known for its quirky gifts and modern style, Heliotrope has been a go-to spot for gift-seekers and decorating-enthusients for years. It won “Best of Atlanta” back in 2008 for “best one-stop gift shop” and often found unique ways to stand out from the Decatur retail crowd – from being one of the first Decatur shops to stay open late into the evening to organizing regular shopping events with other “We-Po” businesses.
We will miss Heliotrope and wish all the best to Tommy and the entire Heliotrope team.
Agreed. Very disappointed they are no longer part of the Decatur scene. Why are these retail shops closing up at a time when the downtown population is going to increase significantly? Without these shores, the character of downtown is bland.
I don’t know if this has anything to do with it but one of the owners died a couple of years ago.
We were forewarned but it’s still a blow. There were times over the years when going to Heliotrope was about all we could think of doing on a Monday babysitter night in Downtown Decatur when most everything was closed.
So sad! I loved that place!
So many happy newlywed memories shopping there for fun gifts and stuff for the house. Wishing Tommy and his former staff all the best.
I will miss you, Heliotrope! I still see the online web site that appears fully stocked. Will this continue to be running?
Bummer. My wife bought me a gift for Christmas from that store. Fun place. Best to those who were involved with it.
Rents are too high. We were in one of the gift shops in downtown Decatur and the owner told us that she had to take out a loan against her house to pay the $10,000 a month rent, and she was going deeper and deeper in the hole, waiting for the end of her lease. I can’t imagine any of those shops taking in that kind of money.
$10,000 a month???
That’d be over 4,000 square feet at downtown rental rates, wouldn’t it? What store was it?
Bummer! I was in there at Christmas and I thought inventory looked pretty sparse. I asked the cashier (wasn’t the owner that day) if they were going out of business and was told no, they were just reorganizing the store. But I had a suspicion that wasn’t the case.
This was my go-to for gifts, I will miss it!
I had a very similar experience.
This sucks. We loved that store, and bought a ton of gifts from them over the years. Best of luck to their entire team.
That place was always packed at Christmastime, so a sparse inventory might not have indicated anything other than their normally outstanding holiday business as usual.
So bummed. Heliotrope was one of my favorite Decatur shops!
I heard that the Marshals were there, and that there was quite a bit of merchandise, etc. set outside the back door in the parking lot. So perhaps an eviction? Their website is still up and running as if nothing ever happened. What a wonderful shop. It will be sorely missed.
I heard that there was an eviction notice on the door. (Didn’t see it myself, just heard from someone who was down there earlier today.)