Report: Caribou Coffee in Toco Hills Among Nationwide Closures
Decatur Metro | April 10, 2013
Tomorrow’s News Today is reporting details in the recently report closure of 80 Caribou Coffee stores across the country. The ABC article that we linked to yesterday only said that the coffee shop was retreating from Georgia and didn’t offer details as to which locations would simply close up and which would be converted to Peet’s Coffee Shops. Well Eli’s got the scoop, as usual…
I was able to learn the locations that will close entirely and based on my own experience and knowledge of the areas, at least two surprised me. Caribou’s North Druid Hills at LaVista Roads location, near Toco Hills as well as their Norcross location at The Forum, are both slated for closure April 14th. The Toco Hills location shares a former Pollo Tropical with Einstein Bros. Bagels, and despite competition from literally all sides (Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, Bagel Palace, Goldberg’s, Atlanta Coffee Roasters), seemed to always be busy.
Also, I can’t show it here because it’s copyrighted, but I found this cute pic on Flickr of all the coffee shop signs at that LaVista/N. Druid intersection that I thought I’d share.
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11alive also reported on this (including all four locations that are closing) a few days ago: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/287363/40/Four-Metro-Atlanta-Caribou-Coffee-stores-closing-April-14
The other two that are closing are in Marietta.
I have to say that shocks me. My office has pretty expensive coffee tastes and we buy their Guatemalan beans for our daily coffee. Every time I go in there to buy more, no matter what time of day, it’s well patronized.
I am also more surprised that this store wasn’t chosen to be re-branded to a Peet’s Coffee & Teas.
Noooooooooooo…sob. This is the only fancy coffee I like. Love their lattes. Since they only have half of the building, my guess is Einstein’s wants to expand to the entire space.
I thought it was Toco Hill.
Is it? Like how everyone says “Virginia HighlandS”?
It is. There is just one hill.
Toco Hill
Virginia/Highland (as in the vicinity of the intersection of Virginia Ave. and Highland Ave.)
And please, never refer to that area as “The Highlands.”
I wonder why there’s such a tendency to add an “s” to location names. Is it a widespread thing? And if so, why?
Whatever it is, it’s often a more powerful force than the historically accurate perspective to which you continually cling .
Well, I prefer “historically accurate perspective” to “snobbery” (which some have called it). But I actually think of it first as simply “accurate.” Place names do evolve sometimes as a result of associations with events or people. But there is no reason for “Virginia/Highlands” except perhaps some developer or marketer thought “The Highlands” sounded swanky and it caught on. I don’t know what the story is with Toco Hill.
I have a rant about willful ignorance but will save it for another day!
I think it might be due to the shopping center. When first opened the Toco Hill’s Shopping center was a big deal. That might have gotten morphed to Toco Hills’ Shopping center in people’s heads.Ditto for the Virginia-Highland’s neighborhood.
I don’t think it was ever named “Toco Hill’s Shopping Center.” Is it possible you are yanking my chain?
http://atlantatimemachine.com/commercialbldgs/toco.htm
Seems at least some of the people in Toco HillS would disagree with you:
http://www.tocohillsalliance.org/board.html
The one that gets me is “I’m going to Krogers.” It’s Kroger. Not Krogers.
Lord have mercy, Bulldog – I have never agreed with you so vehemently. “Krogers”….gets to me every time!
This is twice in the last few months. The world is beginning to tilt in our favor!
Actually, If you are referring the KrogerS, in Toco HillS, please use its proper name, Krosher
Kroshers, you mean. Even the Orthodox Jews in the vicinity are not immune to the rampant mispluralization. See:
http://www.yith.org/
And yes, I drive the extra half mile to this one because they have my Ba-tampte garlic dill pickles.
The portmanteau of “Krosher” is appealing, but I like to call it “Kosher Kroger” so it fits the naming scheme of the other Krogers in my life: Campus Kroger, Baby Kroger, Industrial Kroger, Murder Kroger…
And the dearly departed Disco Kroger…
That drives me nuts, too. Why can’t people just say, “I’m going Kroger-ing” and be done with it?
Part of the problem is caused by Kroger itself. Their phone number is 1.800.KROGERS.
Seriously. Saw it on a big sign in a Kroger(s) yesterday.
Too bad, they do coffee well. I’d love to at least have a Peet’s around. They’re West Coast stores have been fantastic in my experience, but corporate pressure, going national, etc., may change that.
That Caribou is great with the greatest staff, especially Cleo. Darn, darn, double darn.
My husband says that, if he ever starts a business, he’s not going to let me patronize it. Every store, restaurant, business that I love seems to close. ):
+1000 for Cleo!
When we first moved to GA 25 years ago, Atlanta was a coffee wasteland. In a pinch, we’d get Macy’s Cellar Blend, but we generally bought Peet’s by mail order. Great to see Peet’s in Publix and Kroger now, especially when it’s occasionally discounted to $7.99 a bag.
I believe Toco is an informal abbreviation of top of the county.
Bring back Pollo Tropical.
Well, if we are going down that road:
It’s Virginia Highland, not Virginia Highlands.
You must have gotten to the fork in the road and took it…
North Highland
South Highland
Highlands
so there
I’m baffled by these closures. Both Toco and Forum locations never seemed to be lacking for customers (actually the only two locations we still hit up sometimes). Sad… good memories meeting friends there way back to 90’s.