The dust has started to settle after the brisk holiday shopping season. In recent days ToNeTo Atlanta has reported on several restaurant closures with news now that two national retailers have quietly exited Lenox Square in Buckhead.
It's unclear when exactly the store closed but it was still open as of the end of the year but was stripped of all logos and empty when we visited the mall Tuesday afternoon. The Huntington Beach, California-based business launched its retail store division in 2023 with the opening of a shop at Roosevelt Field in Garden City, New York. A second store followed soon after at Costa Mesa Plaza in Costa Mesa, California. According to the company's website, both stores have also closed while one at Fashion Valley in San Diego remains open.
In addition to TYR, Moose Knuckles, a Montreal-based outerwear brand, also closed their store at the upscale Buckhead mall. Moose Knuckles, yes, that's really their name, opened its Lenox Square store November 18, 2022, marking what was then the brand's 11th in the U.S. The roughly 3,000 square foot store was also located on the mall's main level between Savage X Fenty and UNTUCKit.
The store officially closed Sunday, according to an employee at Moose Knuckles, with the store having offered 50% off merchandise ahead of the closure.
Launched in 2008, Moose Knuckles is seen by many as the chief rival of the better-known Canada Goose, another popular luxury outwear business that got its start in Toronto in 1957 and opened their own store at Phipps Plaza in September 2023.
Moose Knuckles hired Tokyo-based architectural firm Curiosity, known for its diverse portfolio of work for luxury labels including Versace, Fendi, Berluti, Dolce & Gabbana and Tag Heuer, to design the Lenox Square store. The company spent an estimated $750,000 building out the space which was undoubtedly meant to be more than a two year stay.
The Moose Knuckles website is incredibly difficult to navigate but it appears the company continues to operate at least one U.S. full-line store in Soho, New York as well as outlets at Woodbury Common and Fashion Outlets of Chicago.
TYR and Moose Knuckles have both been removed from the Lenox Square website and from their own websites but are still marked as "open" via their Google listings.
The closures of TYR and Moose Knuckles come on the heels of the closure at Bally at Phipps Plaza in December and the closures of eateries Azucar Cuban, Ponko Chicken, Sugar Daddy Cookies, and Garrett Popcorn Shops at Lenox Square in recent months.
Are you as surprised as we were that someone thought opening a TYR store at Lenox Square was a good idea? Did you ever visit the Moose Knuckles store? What do you think should open in place of two vacancies at Lenox Square?
Please share your thoughts below.