From MeloMom, straight off the Atlanta Cuisine Restaurant Talk Forum (which seems to get more and more of its info off DM!)…

We also heard a little more about the new location in the Rue de Leon space. They have signed a lease (I heard about this on the Decatur Metro blog) and Mike says they may be open by November. He finds the Decatur people a lot easier to work with than the Atlanta folks (big surprise). As we’ve heard previously, it will be menu-driven, still with great beers, but not really pub food. They will still keep an eye on prices to keep things reasonable. There is an unused courtyard behind this space that I think might join up with their current location, and Mike said he would love to have the use of that for an outdoor “beer garden.” Me, too!

Though I’m pretty sure these two properties aren’t adjacent (this tax map [pdf] clearly shows it), an outdoor beer garden sounds great!

InDecatur’s sources are telling him that the Brick Store owners are taking over the lease at Rue De Leon.

They’ve already got a successful pub and coffee house in town.  What’s next?

Must…avoid…excited…speculation…

I wonder if this is an alternative to the stalled Grant Park location.

Per the all-knowing Carl over at InDecatur…

Rue de Leon is closing on June 15th, while Birdi’s owner wants to get the heck out of Dodge and “move to the mountains”.

Carl also points out that RockIt Boutique opens “officially” this weekend. We saw this a couple weeks back before I went overseas, but never got around to posting it, because I had no real info or a link for it. I think its in the old record store space on the pedestrian-only portion of Sycamore. Not positive its that exact location though.

Also he notes that Saba (love the awning) and Tastings are opening this coming week.

This humble blogger has been invited to the the Tastings soft-opening party tomorrow night, so hopefully I’ll have some pics for those of you who have yet to see the amazing renovations they’ve undertaken at the old Tropical Smoothie location.

The ever-reliable Rus has informed us that Houseworks on Church Street (next to Mingei Arts) is having a going-out-of-business sale. The owner told Rus that business has been “terrible” and that Rue de Leon and Blue Moon are also struggling.

The owner also claims that his neighbor, the T-Mobile store, is also closing shop.

I think it’s pretty interesting to see how Decatur development patterns reflect the local and national economy. Most of the recent closings (smaller restaurants and “knick-knack” shops) have seemed the most vulnerable to the negative shift in the national economy. But at the same time, you can see the strength in the Decatur market as these now defunct stores are being bought up and replaced quickly, while Decatur’s residential real estate market shows many area homes under renovation and there has even been some new construction activity. What a rarity!