That Pottery Place Moving to North DeKalb Mall
Decatur Metro | June 28, 2012Bryan points out this note on “That Pottery Place’s” website about their coming move from Suburban Plaza to North DeKalb Mall…
Yes, the Wal-Mart cometh and we must goeth – but we aren’t going very far and we’re going to a fresher, larger studio to serve you better – and with longer and later opening hours!
We will stay open at Suburban Plaza through July 1st and then on July 2nd, we will reopen less than a mile away at the North DeKalb Mall in a lovely 2,800 square foot studio right on the mall food court, and just steps away from the rear entrance to the AMC movies and Applebee’s.
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Dang. The mall? Too bad. They’ve lost my business.
Well, that is certainly reasonable and mature and will teach them a lesson. I bet next time they have to move they will ask YOU where they should go!
OMG, does that mean…this is too horrible to contemplate…does that mean you’ve actually been going to the much-maligned SUBURBAN PLAZA??? And you think a move to the mall is a step DOWN?
Wow.
I’m not sure I understand Heather’s reaction, either. I’m just glad they are landing on their feet. Any word about the other tenants? What about On Stage Atlanta?
If some of these old, dying malls like N.DeKalb made some accommodations that allowed non-retail, arts related businesses (like Onstage Atlanta) to locate there, they might attract other businesses, particularly restaurants, that would benefit from the increased traffic. If the mall had music venues and theaters to visit, I’d certainly consider spending money at retailers there too.
I’ve noticed singing competitions, live music, and a Zumba studio in N. DeKalb Mall, so I think that the management is open to unconventional space usage. I applaud That Pottery Place for finding a new home, and I think that the move will bring them a much broader audience.
Glad you are moving close by and glad the mall is getting another good tenant.
+1
Will they have to start selling jewelry now?
Hmm. Well, on the one hand perhaps this will be part of a regeneration for North Dekalb Mall. I can’t say I shop there a lot (anymore…used to be there all the time before the quality of retailers went so wrong), but it would be nice to have some quality stores again. But at the same time, this makes me a little uneasy. My family loves going to That Pottery Place, but North Dekalb Mall isn’t very family friendly anymore (at least the last couple of times I was there.)
So, if you don’t take your family there, it becomes more family friendly by the absence of families? Be the change you want to see.
That doesn’t make sense and is not really what I was saying. When my family goes to the mall, it’s generally because we’re taking the kids shopping and as we don’t frequent stores like Ross, Marshalls or the Coat Factory (not that there is anything wrong with them), I’m not aware of any good children’s stores at North Dekalb. We used to go all the time for the theater, but stopped because we began to feel unsafe at the theater. Perhaps it was the time of day / day of the week that we were trying to go to the movies with our children, but there were always a lot of teenagers and young adults loitering around, sneaking in and out of every theater and the management would do nothing. My wife got asked by a young man at a screening of a G-rated children’s movie if he could have her ticket stub in exchange for “some good reefer.” So we stopped going to the mall all together. Granted, this happened close to 2 years ago, so maybe things have changed since.
We will still take our children to That Pottery Place once it moves. I do think it could be a good thing – there are so many vacant stores in the mall and this could draw more customers and perhaps the mall could experience a regeneration. However, unless we go into the mall and things have really turned around, for the time being I doubt we will venture anywhere else but That Pottery Place.
What makes you feel unsafe at the theater? I have been going to that theater for about 2 decades and have never felt unsafe.
This mall will always be Market Square to me, though!
It will always be North DeKalb Mall to me–the mall where I first saw Santa; first encountered segregation; first used a credit card (Rich’s card); first tasted Chick-fi-li; and first bought a present for a girlfriend (I had her initials engraved on a Zippo; yes, seriously).
How old are you and isn’t it late for you to be up on a school night
“How old are you and isn’t it late for you to be up on a school night”
Let’s put it this way: Chick-fi-li was only in malls when I first tried it.
Me too. But I was still in the Philly suburbs then and, by that time, we were rocking out to Bon Jovi and Great White. Yes, I said Great White you music snobs – I distinctly remember pulling up to the Oxford Valley Mall in my T-top Camaro*, Once Bitten, Twice Shy blasting from the stereo.
After a hard day’s work on the grounds crew at Sesame Place**, mowing lawns and pressure washing toddlers’ shit from the water slides and every other conceivable exposed surface, I could eat a double/double (two sandwiches, two orders of fries, with cole slaw of course), washed down with at least three refills of sweet tea and sometimes still have room for an ice cream at Styer’s on the way home. So yeah, you’re older than me, too, even though my looming 40th birthday is making these memories of high school seem more like fiction every day!
*OK, so it may not have actually been mine but rather my friend’s T-top Camaro. He did let me drive it sometimes, though. OK, once, and only until he realized I had no idea what that third pedal on the left was for. I had an ’85 Cavalier 2.0L 3 speed so yeah, I let him drive to the mall and my other friend with the ’76 Monte Carlo “Bat Mobile” drove when we needed to pile in 8 people or more.
**Yes, I said Sesame Place. Some of you laugh and the rest need an explanation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Place – At least I wasn’t the guy who got fired for switching the entire park’s sound system over from Billy Joel and Huey Lewis to GnR Lies that one morning just before opening. I Used to Love Her is what really set them off but I was quite impressed that he somehow kept it going through You’re Crazy and almost to the end of One In A Million before management figured out how to get back to Hip To be Square. Ah, good times!
I go to the North Dekalb Mall from time to time to the Macy’s and Play it Again Sports, and even occasionally walk through the middle or attend a movie or eat at Applebees. I have found it fairly empty, but nothing that would make me think family-unfriendly or anything like that. I would definitely go more if there was more there, more shopping, more in the food court, or more entertainment options like this Pottery Place. I would like to know more though about what people have seen as family-unfriendly, as in, should I be more cautious in my frequenting of the mall?
I could have written your post almost exactly. I shop at Macy’s, visit the post office there, and get my glasses and contacts at America’s Best, all with my kids with me. I’ve never felt that it wasn’t welcoming to my family. I wish there were more shops there, but I’ve never avoided it. I’m puzzled.
What’s with this “creepy” reputation North Dekalb Mall has? Since Marshalls has moved in, I’ve become a regular. And before that I was there occasionally at Macy’s, Baby Depot in Burlington Coat Factory, and to drop things off at the Goodwill truck. And this is the primary movie theater my husband and I go to (on the rare occasion we have a babysitter). I have never felt unsafe but I have a friend who I just found out is afraid to go there. I really don’t get it. I generally keep up with the news and don’t recall any rash of crimes.
I’m with you. I have no problem with North Dekalb. Marshall’s is the bomb!!! Not to be confused with the concealed weapon…
Help me. I see so many people there who do not look like me. Creepy. Very scary too.
I believe we have a winner. Also, a lot of them look like they don’t make as much money as I do either. Yikes! Sorry, feeling very sarcastic on this hot Friday.
You may be correct Scott, but you’re clearly still too New around here to know that we are not supposed to acknowledge such things
I stopped going to the mall when the young in line in front of me at Ross stretched reaaalllly big… And a gun fell out of his pants. He split and so did I.
You can use all that money you save at Ross to buy a nicer piece.
This is Georgia. I kind of assume half the people walking around have concealed weapons.
Yeah, that could have never happened at Big Lots.
Maybe he was carrying it for protection from coyotes
He’ll have a new place to shop when Family Dollar opens in Oakhurst.
Oh, we ALL know where he’ll be shopping next year.
Why are you trying to make me go there!
I am fine with going to North DeKalb Mall and always have been. But it definitely has had a down and out feel to it in recent years and that has nothing to do with stereotypes about who frequents it. There’s lots of empty store spaces and even the food court, which used to be busy, seems forlorn. AMC has gotten run down, emptier, with their satellite food stand always shut down. Some of the stores I used to frequent, like Kid’s Footlocker, are gone. I can’t even remember the restaurants and other stores that used to be a draw. The main reason we go nowadays is for Play it again Sports, the nearby Intown Quilters/Fabrics, and because a really decent Publix is across the street.
Agree that, if North DeKalb Mall can get more upbeat, cheery, family friendly places like That Pottery Place, it might draw more families and be better for business as a whole. Or maybe small intown malls like North DeKalb just cannot make it anymore. Styles change…..
You beat me to giving a shout-out to Intown Quilters. That’s most often why I’m over that way. I occasionally visit the movie theater and the Marshall’s. And you’re right: the mall is more just sad (vacant stores, emptiness and all) than creepy.
Still sad that the Costco didn’t work out for N DeKalb Mall (I know, lots of reasons why). It would’ve been great to have an east side Costco, and I really think its presence would’ve have changed the mall’s path downhill.
North DeKalb Mall could use a good scrub. Anybody else use that entrance near the furniture store to get to the movies?
Yes, and I have to admit that’s the one place I get a little nervous. It has the feel of a deserted subway station late at night in NYC. In fact, I always wonder if I’m doing something illegal by using it. Is it really a kosher entrance?
Last time I went to the movies there at noon on Sunday, tripped over a huge glass alcohol bottle, obviously left from the previous nights drinking bing. Not a great find to encourage mall visits.
I mean, I get it, all that really matters is how safe people feel. But look around, there’s crime everywhere. These are a few things I can remember just off the top of my head:
Person shot near the square (some car incident last year)
Neighbor murdered on Sycamore
Multiple burglaries and car thefts all over Decatur and Avondale
Robbery (armed?) in Medlock a couple of weeks ago
Armed robbery in a home Decatur Heights
Patch has crime updates that had a purse snatching last week in Decatur Square, and multiple office thefts
You just have to be aware of your surroundings and use common sense. If a business does something that creates an unsafe environment (lights out in the parking lot at night) that’s a legit concern, but avoiding it because there may be sketch people around isn’t going to do a whole lot of good, since they’re everywhere.
These folks had to move through no fault of their own, maybe give the place another shot before writing them off.
I hope that it’s a good move for That Pottery Place and for North DeKalb Mall. I did have a friend who was “afraid” to go there, but I’m pretty sure I know the reasons why. None of which were legit…