Victory Vintage Home Downsizing and Closing Decatur Store
Decatur Metro | October 9, 2008
Seems like we’re in the midst of another wave of store closings around town.
Rusty Tanton forwards this message from Victory Vintage Home…
Dear Friends of Victory Vintage Home:
As our five year anniversary approaches, I’ve made the decision not to renew our lease here. There are a few reasons but first let me say that we ARE going to stay in the lamp shade and lamp repair business; we’ll be moving these to Kudzu Antique Market starting 11/1/08. We will also continue to make hanging lights and sell great refurbished vintage lamps and a little furniture there too.
My experience here has been superlative and I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for coming to the store and/or visiting our web site on a regular basis. I feel privileged to have had your business, and that made my decision to close very difficult. In the end, these uncertain economic times and my own desire to try some new things prevailed.
Rest of the note can be found after the jump.
Our mailing list friends will have the first opportunity to buy at drastically reduced prices starting this Saturday, October 11. From 5 – 8 p.m. we’ll have catered appetizers and wine; come pick up some terrific deals. Nearly everything will be 50% off EXCEPT LAMPSHADES, one or two furniture pieces, and some new gift inventory that just arrived for the upcoming holiday season (this will discounted 25%; shades will not be on sale). I have a few pieces in storage that will trickle in as we have room. Our last day open in this location will be Wednesday, October 29.
Again, we will continue to be a full-service lamp repair and lamp shade provider operating from Kudzu Antique Market, located near the Dekalb Farmer’s Market on East Ponce de Leon Ave. (2928 is the exact address). The phone number there is 404-373-6498 and they are open seven days a week from 11 – 7. Beth Wheeler will have regular hours there, though you can drop a lamp off at any time, and I’ll be around on Saturdays and available for help with lamp shades.
Who knows, perhaps in a year or two we’ll revisit the idea of another stand-alone store. For now, we’re going to hunker down and make sure every lamp in Decatur has fresh wiring and a pretty new shade.
Thank you again – it’s been a lot of fun!
Lee Cuthbert
Latest from Decaturish
Does anyone else NOT find this alarming? All these stores and restaurants closing in the past several months!! If you have to shop and dine, we all MUST keep it in Decatur, or our community will suffer with drops in property values. In the past few months Intaglia, Gado Gado, Angel, Tossed, Dresscodes, Blimpie, Miss Nails, Square Roots, Rue de Leon, Stella Bella, Annas Wardrobe, Houseworks, Birdis, Pasta Please, Zocalo, Tropical Smoothie, Neeses, Mocha Java, Vinson, Boswell all have closed. (And I know I missed a bunch of others!) While some may not have fit Decatur, or had good business plans, those businesses that are here need to be supported. If you are a fan of a shop or restaurant you must give them your support this Holiday season, or more will bite the dust. Some of those spaces have been filled with new merchants, but many remain vacant and I fear there will be more to come if we don’t support them. We NEED a vibrant downtown district to remain an attractive place to live, work, shop, learn, excercise, and worship.
I second that! Vintage, we will miss you…
Miss Nails has closed?? When?? Darn it, I loved Tina & her gang!
@Decatur Shopper:
You missed Moxie Bistro, Jake’s and Mick’s for a few. Nease’s originally announced its closing, but had a change of ownership instead. Let’s also add the consolidations of several real estate agencies to the mix (Adams, 9 Mile Trolley, etc.), the Sprint store on Church, and the picture widens, reflecting the downturn in the residential real estate market as well. That said, it lools like there’s always somebody ready to try a new idea in one of these locations.
Anyone know what the vacancy rate is for our commercial buildings like 315 W. Ponce? Has it been increasing this year?
During the 36-hour ZBA meeting, the 315 folks said that occupancy was above 90% and had been for some time. I think they just leave that ugly “For Lease” sign out front for dogs to pee on.
In regard to closings, I’m with you FM. Its only a negative if the space sits vacant for a long time. Stores/restaurants will come and go…as has been well-documented on this site, its inevitable.
That said…when’s Parker’s on Ponce opening?
I think maybe you are mistaken about Miss Nails. I was by there a few days ago. They were open – nothing was mentioned about closing.
Umm…all I did was cut and paste an email from Victory Vintage. So, its pretty difficult to be mistaken on this one.
The scary part of this equation is that the rents in Decatur are still going up despite vacancies. I am trying to renew my lease right now and the landlord wants another big increase. I’ve called other landlords and their rents are also very high.
Stephen…just curious. Up compared to when? Last year?
My mistake about Miss Nails, very sorry. They are very open.
Decatur Metro,
The rents continue to rise every year without fail, including this year. That is exactly my point. In spite of economic mayhem in our country, the landlords here feel pretty comfortable breaking it off in their tennents right now.
My landlord looked at me like I was crazy when I said I thought I shouldn’t have a rent increase this year. I had heard of some better deals from some of my merchant friends, however, I can’t find anything under $25-26 a sq. foot for commercial. I would say the real value is closer to $19-20 a sq. foot based on similar markets. It’s funny as well because we small merchants donate back to our communities everyday and I’m sure my landlord has never given a dime to anything in Decatur.
I’m not trying to have a witch hunt of landlords. I am trying to say that this is somewhat normal in these small charming town set-ups. Everything is so cute and charming and we pay dearly for that. The landlords see that what they have is valuable and they continue to raise rents until stores start collapsing left and right. My brother lives in Franklin, TN and he has the exact same thing happening in his charming downtown area. No one can really afford it. Our rents just do not reflect the level of commerce in the area.
Hi, John. Do you have any insight on why retailers continue to pay the higher cost if the level of commerce doesn’t warrant it? We seem to be seeing a variety of closings but not a lot of relocations (retailers bailing on the cost and moving somewhere more in the $20 range).
I guess I’m wondering how they keep leasing space. You guys all seem pretty connected. It surely can’t be a secret if it’s a poor value.
Why do people continue to pay it? Any thoughts?
We are optomists and a little dumb. No seriously, we independants are the only ones who would take the risk. We all believe in Decatur and want to stay. Many of us have visions of this town in ten years and that looks bright so we stay in our leases hoping it will get better. The problem is that many of us had a hard time surviving the Marta Station construction only to come out the other side of the construction into an economic recession. The tripling of the parking meter rates downtown sure didn’t help either. Ask any merchant down here and they will freak on you about the parking meters. People look at their watches when they are shopping and run out screaming, “I don’t wanna ticket, gotta go.” It just never got better for many of the restaurants here, night time foot traffic shrunk for all of us.
Many of us live here so moving our businesses is concerning and a last resort method. I’ll have to honestly say that the foot traffic in Decatur was better four or five years ago. Many of us retailers peaked years ago, and we are just trying to return to those numbers. We do know it’s a poor value we just hope it will get better or in some cases, just return to normal.
Shopper – Thanks for the clarification about Miss Nails. I’d hate to see Tina lose walk in business because readers think she has closed.
thanks, i got the name wrong, i know that at least one of the many nail salons has gone under.
The rents in Downtown Decatur simply do not support either the population, traffic counts or income of the businesses. There is only 1 Landlord with reasonable lease rates. The majority of the remaining Landlords are local investors who absolutely take advantage of their tenants. There is NO WAY the rent rates should be in the mid-$20s, but they are.
Given the area, traffic, population, product type etc. the rental rates in Downtown Decatur should be in the area of $15-20 per square foot. With $20/sf being for the newer spaces with attached parking.
Also, there are some folks who want to further reduce traffic on Church St. by narrowing the road or creating other traffic calming devices. That would be the death blow of retail in Decatur. Those measures were already taken on Clairmont and Ponce. While it makes for better “walkability” it kills the one thing that businesses need to be successful, TRAFFIC COUNTS. Whether that’s pedestrian or auto.
If Church is turned into Clairmont, then the COD will have to make some hard downtown development choices. There simply is not enough density to justify the lease rates, so the COD will have to allow more density. The most valuable remaining intersections in the city are Commerce and Church/Clairmont. They need development that includes residential components if Decatur businesses are going to survive.
Lastly, there needs to be an end to the “anti-franchise/chain” mentality of the city. There needs to be a healthy mix of local and national in order to get people to frequent an area. This 100% homegrown push is not working in Decatur because we simply don’t have residents to help all the local businesses survive. And people who are visitors are not going to always want to “take a chance” on a place that they don’t know. However, if you give them enough places that they know, they will keep coming back and eventually take a chance on a place that is new to them.
Just one man’s opinion. And yeah, it’s been building for quite some time. LOL!!!
Can you tell me the name of the Landlord. I’d love to talk. Our rents are really high, and I’m looking for a reasonable lease. Mr. Decatur Heights, you are correct, Sir.
Stephen,
I would say Cartel Properties is probably the LL most likely to work with their tenants in a way that’s not going to just kill them.
Some of the reason is like I said, you have older owners who see Decatur as a cash cow and have no intent on dropping rates to meet the reality of the marketplace. You do have some newer condo retail space which has been spun off from the residential component, but their basis in those spaces are so high that they cannot justify rates lower than the low $20s/sf.
Atlanta area retail rates lag FAR behind other major metro markets and there has certainly been a concerted recently to raise the rates, but to be honest, the variables are simply not in place for most of the area. The exceptions being Buckhead, Perimeter & Midtown, which the Downtown market picking up steam, but not quite there yet.
Decatur has a rather small commercial presence, so daytime foot traffic is not as high as you would like. And to be honest, adding DeVry does not help most local businesses. The fast/casual food places will absolutely clean up. But the shops and boutiques are not in the price range of the average student on a budget. There are a couple exceptions, but not many.