Longtime Toco Hills laundromat latest business to announce closure
Toco Hills Coin Laundry, which has operated at Toco Hills shopping center for decades, will be closing in the coming weeks. The business was reportedly not offered a lease renewal by Edens, the Columbia, SC based developer who signed a 35 year ground lease on the property in late 2015.
The 2,000 square foot Toco Hills Coin Laundry is located in an outparcel of the center and is adjacent to Toco Giant Package Store, a store that is reportedly remanining in the center.
Following Toco Hills Coin Laundry's closure, the next closest laundromat would be Atomic Coin Laundry on Briarcliff Road, near Clairmont Road.
As I previously reported, The Nearly New Shop, a service of the Junior League of Atlanta, is also closing at Toco Hills. According to JLA president Deanna Anderson, the decison to close the store was not due to the center's change in direction, but was instead due to the store no longer being a "sustainable fundraising model." The store is currently offering at least 50% off all merchandise with plans to close for good April 30th.
In addition to The Nearly New Shop and Toco Hills Coin Laundry, a number of other longstanding Toco Hills businesses have closed or relocated in the past year or so.
The Shoe Center was the first to close. The popular footwear retailer operated out of Toco Hills for 14 years before closing last summer. Famous Pub, which opened at Toco Hills in 1986, closed this past December. Last month, I confirmed that Hudson Grille has leased the former Famous Pub space with plans to open later this fall.
Petite Auberge, a Toco Hills mainstay since 1974, closed at Toco Hills at the end of last year, and "merged" with Violette on Clairmont Road.
Young Chefs Academy, a popular childrens cooking class franchise, "moved" its popular Toco Hills location to Buckhead's Howell Mill Village. According to the business' facebook page which strangely refers to the location as "Atlanta Midtown," the new Young Chefs Academy is slated to celebrate its Grand Opening Saturday, March 4th.
The Georgia Department of Labor has confirmed they are leaving the center, but it remains unclear when and where they will move. The DOL occupies a 20,000 square foot space that is likely to be leased to a single anchor tenant but could be divided into smaller spaces.
In addition to the tenant changes, Edens has also rerouted and repaved the entire parking lot and redone many of the sidewalks and islands around the center. Easily the oddest and seemingly most unnecessary change at the center was the installation of outdoor ceiling fans along the center's covered walkway.
Along with Hudson Grille, Spiller Park Coffee is the only other confirmed new tenant in the center. I'm working a few leads on possible new tenants and hope to confirm at least one of them by weeks end.
Will you miss Toco Hills Coin Laundry? What are your thoughts on the changes at Toco Hills? What restaurant, retailer or other business would you like to see open at Toco Hills?
Please share your thoughts below.