East Cobb Business

East Cobb Citizen of the Year is Brenda Rhodes, Simple Needs GA founder

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East Cobb Citizen of the Year, Barbara Rhodes
Brenda Rhodes receives the East Cobb Citizen of the Year plaque from Johnny Johnson of Edward-Johns Jewelers. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

The East Cobb Citizen of the Year for 2018 has an expansive background in community service, but she noticed some seemingly small things from her primary volunteering effort that led to larger action.

Volunteering at MUST Ministries inspired Brenda Rhodes to do something more for the homeless and low-income people who relied upon the non-profit agency for shelter, food and other basic assistance.

In 2010, the East Cobb resident started Small Needs GA, a non-profit that helps those in need with a little more—like bringing tents to those living in the woods, or duffel bags with toiletries and other household items.Barbara Rhodes, 2018 East Cobb Citizen of the Year

It’s grown to much more than that, but her philosophy has remained the same.

“I just happened to see some needs that were being unmet,” Rhodes said Thursday as she was honored by the East Cobb Area Council of the Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast at Indian Hills Country Club.

“So I thought that I should do something about it.”

That was in 2010. Since then, Simple Needs GA has helped hundreds of clients, many of them single mothers with children, often fleeing domestic violence and abuse. Among the items delivered are birthday and Christmas presents, shoes, furniture, bedding and mattresses and school uniforms.

Last year, Simple Needs GA provided birthday gifts and other items to more than 200 homeless children in Cobb through the My Birthday Matters and Spirit of Christmas programs.

Rhodes, who holds down a corporate job as a business analyst at Genesys, says she spends 20-30 hours a week with Simple Needs GA, and even drives delivery trucks.

“It’s actually fun to drive a big truck,” she said.

“Our goal is to meet the needs that aren’t being met” by other agencies. “We’re trying to fill the gap.”

Simple Needs GA accepts donations of money and other items on its website. More about its programs and community partnerships can be found here.

Rhodes has served in many capacities as a community volunteer. In addition to MUST, she has helped with Good Mews Animal Foundation, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hands On Atlanta, WellStar Foundation and The Center for Family Resources.

She contributes to local missions teams, sings in the choir at First United Methodist Church of Marietta and belongs to the Georgia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.

Rhodes is a two-time recipient of the National Points of Light Award and was Hands On Atlanta’s Premier Volunteer in 2004.

She is a graduate of the 2016 class of Leadership Cobb and the winner of the 2016 W. Wyman Pilcher Jr. Memorial Grant for community service from the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association.

The East Cobb Area Council chooses the Citizen of the Year from nominations made by members of various community service organizations, including the East Cobb Lions Club, Rotary Club of East Cobb, the East Cobb Civitans Club, the East Cobb Business Association and others.

 

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East Cobb Biz Notes: More Sandy Plains Marketplace tenants include Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar

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The teardown of the old Mountain View Elementary School is almost complete, and the construction signs around what’s left of it are hinting at what’s to come in what’s being called the Sandy Plains Marketplace mixed-use development.Bad Daddy's Burger Bar, Sandy Plains Marketplace

The anchor of the Fuqua Development project is a Publix GreenWise organic store, as noted here last month.

The Atlanta retail site ToNeTo is reporting that other tenants include several restaurants with growing presences in the metro area, including a Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and MOD Pizza.

Food joints also include First Watch and Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q and there’s going to be another Hollywood Feed, a boutique pet supply retailer, which also opened in East Cobb in January at Woodlawn Square.

Fuqua, which is the developer of The Battery Atlanta, developed a concept similar to the Sandy Plains Marketplace called the Kennesaw Marketplace. That’s recently opened and is anchored by a Whole Foods Market (prompting the closure of Harry’s on Roswell Road this time a year ago).

Last October Cobb commissioners gave the greenlight to rezoning the former Mountain View school grounds, on nearly 14 acres. Fuqua and East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC also had to come back to the commission to get approval for a self-storage facility near the back of the property that was opposed by some residents of the adjacent Hunters Lodge neighborhood.

Grand opening

Flooring Atlanta has moved into East Cobb at 2214 Roswell Road, and is having a grand opening celebration Saturday from 11-3. There will be free food and drinks in addition to music, including a live Mariachi performance at 1.

Flooring Atlanta, the new name for what had been Carpet Surplus, also has showrooms in Kennesaw, Roswell and Norcross.

Business of the Year

The East Cobb Business Association has named EAST COBBER magazine its 2018 business of the year at a luncheon last week that surprised publisher Cynthia Rozzo.

She’s marking 25 years since beginning the monthly lifestyle magazine, and recently staged the 23rd EAST COBBER parade and community festival. Rozzo also will receive an ECBA Honorary Lifetime Membership.

Related stories

 

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New East Cobb Primrose School to hold open house Saturday

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East Cobb Primrose School

On Saturday the new East Cobb Primrose School will have an open house for prospective families, a couple weeks after the facility opened its doors at Paper Mill Village.

The open house is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and activities include children’s arts and crafts, a scavenger hunt, face painting and lunch from the school menu.

Tours also will be available at 12,000-square-foot school building at 202 Village Parkway, and members of the East Cobb Business Association the included in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m.

The East Cobb Primrose School is operated by East Cobb residents Tara and John Fudge, whose son and daughter have enrolled at the school.

The school features 10 classrooms and is designed to enroll 175 children from six weeks to five years old.

 

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Wildwood tax abatement explained to Cobb school board

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Earlier this month, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal announced that Smyrna-based Floor & Decor, a do-it-yourself home improvement retailer, was moving its headquarters to a nearly-vacant office building at the Wildwood office complex.Wildwood tax abatement, 2500 Wildwood, Floor and Decor

The 16-story, 329,000-square-foot building at 2500 Windy Ridge Parkway, where Coca-Cola Enterprises once had office space, has only one current tenant.

That’s meant that the commercial tax digest has dropped to nearly nothing since Coke and other tenants moved out over the last two years.

Floor & Decor has applied for a tax abatement with the Development Authority of Cobb County, which is slated to act on the request next week.

Floor & Decor, which has agreed to a 12-year lease to expand its headquarters and add a projected work force of around 500 employees, is seeking $16 million in development-issued bonds.

A 19-year-old company that operates more than 90 stores in 26 states, Floor & Decor has built a major distribution facility in Savannah and launched an initial public offering, according to Bisnow.

With a 10-year abatement, Floor & Decor would pay 10 percent of its tax obligation in the first year, with that figure rising 10 percent a year until the full rate is paid at the end of that period. During that time, the development authority would hold title to the property, which would be taken off the public tax rolls.

Another tax abatement request, by Home Depot, is seeking nearly $50 million in bonds for a long-term office lease in the Cumberland area and would bring in 700 new jobs.

Part of the abatement request process is briefing the Cobb Board of Education, and both were presented Thursday.

Amy Gerber, an executive with the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, said at a school board work session that before Coca-Cola and other tenants moved out, the assessed tax value of 2500 Wildwood was around $23 million. Now it’s around $17 million.

But the tax benefit to the Cobb school district has plummeted, she said, estimating around $100,000 in annual lost revenue for schools in the last two years.

The Development Authority doesn’t need school board approval to issue bonds, but chairman Clark Hungerford and executive director Nelson Geter provided information and answered questions.

School board member Randy Scamihorn of North Cobb asked if the district would lose out if Floor & Decor gets the abatement and then leaves.

Hungerford said the district is currently losing out now, and that deriving greater tax revenue as the abatement decreases is a win for the schools.

“You don’t lose anything, you achieve increased revenue,” he said. “You have not given anything back.”

If a building stays empty or nearly vacant, Hungerford added, then there’s a problem due to “continued deterioration. . . . That would be a loss.”

East Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney concurred: “It really is in our best interest to see the commercial tax digest in our county grow.”

The Floor & Decor and Home Depot requests are coming up as the Cobb Development Authority is involved with another tax abatement issue in the Powers Ferry corridor that’s going to court.

Earlier this summer, the authority issued $35 million in bonds for Kroger, which wants to build a superstore at the new MarketPlace Terrell Mill mixed-use development.

In June, East Cobb citizen Larry Savage, a former Cobb commission chairman candidate, contested the issuance of those bonds. In September, a Cobb judge invalidated the bonds, ruling that the proposed economic benefits don’t justify a tax break.

Kroger is appealing. (Here’s more from the school board about that project.)

MarketPlace Terrell Mill developers Eden Rock Real Estate Partners and Connolly Realty have purchased the entire 24-acre tract at Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill roads. That includes the former Brumby Elementary School, where the Kroger would be located.

Ground-clearing for the rest of the complex, which includes restaurants, small retail and a luxury apartment complex, has just gotten underway.

 

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East Cobb Biz Notes: Marietta Coffee Company has grand opening

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Marietta Coffee Company

A couple weeks back at the East Cobb Business Association Expo we met Robert Love, who’s the proprietor of a new locally-brewed shop called the Marietta Coffee Company, in the space that was Darwin’s Burgers and Blues on Roswell Road.

Robert has operated the Thrive Wellness Center, a chiropractic clinic, a few doors down, and he told us he’s always wanted to have a coffee shop. His landlord at the clinic also scooped up the old Darwin’s property and so he says he decided to take the plunge.

Marietta Coffee opened a few weeks ago, and over the weekend had a grand opening celebration over the weekend, starting on Friday.

You can find updates on the shop’s Facebook page. There will be coffee and bakery specials, along with live music and other events. Until then, the hours are 10-6, and after the grand opening, they’ll be open from 7 a.m. until midnight seven days a week.

Robert told me that the emphasis at the shop is local, from the locally roasted gourmet coffee to the entertainment to the neighborhood vibe he’s aiming to create.

On Wednesday, the shop will hold the latest Cobb Coffee With a Cop session from 6-8 p.m. Citizens can discuss their crime and public safety concerns with officers from Precinct 4 in an informal setting.

Marietta Coffee Company is located at 1598 Roswell Road. Phone: 678-765-8885.

ECBA Gala Event

The East Cobb Business Association is postponing its usual monthly luncheon on the third Tuesday to this coming Tuesday, Oct. 23, for its annual awards gala. The guest speaker is Cobb County Manager Rob Hosack, and the luncheon also will serve as a 25th anniversary tribute to EAST COBBER magazine.

The event is from 11-1 at Olde Towne Athletic Club (4950 Olde Towne Parkway), and tickets are $20-$30. Advance registration must be completed by 5 p.m. Monday.

Other business group news

  • The Cobb Chamber of Commerce recently issued its annual public safety awards at its monthly luncheon, and Marietta Police Officer Jayson Duncan was named public safety employee of the year. In March, he provided medical assistance to a stabbing victim after responding to calls about a fight on Powers Ferry Road. Duncan applied a hemostatic gauze to the wound and stayed with the victim until EMS crews arrived.

Do you have business news to share? We’ll post your openings and non-sales events here, including charitable activities. E-mail us at editor@eastcobbnews.com.

If you want to promote your business (including sales and specials other than grand openings), email us at advertising@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll be glad to send you a media kit.

 

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Zeal Kitchen and Bar owner sells restaurant; plans venture in Roswell

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Zeal Kitchen and Bar closing

Update: We’ll have more later, but a Los Bravos Mexican restaurant will be replacing Zeal.

Lots of restaurant news in East Cobb this week, some good, as we noted Tuesday about the opening of Jason’s Deli, and some not: A little less than five years after opening to some fanfare on Johnson Ferry Road, Zeal Kitchen and Bar will give way to a new restaurant early next year.

East Cobb News contacted owner Scott Sawant, who said “I got an offer earlier this week and I took the offer and sold to another company, which will open another different restaurant [in] Jan. 2019.”

Sawant did not identify the buyer. He said that a failing health inspection earlier this year was a factor in his decision.

Zeal passed a follow-up inspection, but he said in an interview with East Cobb News at the time that overcoming that kind of bad publicity is tougher than a bad review.

“It feels like you failed somebody in a relationship,” Sawant said.

This week, he told us that “we thought we could continue till at least December 31st or even longer.

“After the unfortunate health score in April we tried to recover and recuperate but it was tough.”

He said he is planning other ventures, starting early next year in Roswell, but did not elaborate.

“Now we are emptying the space,” Sawant said of Zeal, which was located in the former Empress of China II space in the Market Plaza Shopping Center, adjacent to Merchant’s Walk.

When we went by, we saw a closed sign and brown paper covering the inside front doors.

Sawant is a Wheeler High School graduate who emphasized his local roots and understanding of the East Cobb dining scene as it was drawing notice from Atlanta food critics.

He opened Zeal in October 2013, two years after Doug Turbush opened Seed at Merchant’s Walk, setting off an upscale dining wave in East Cobb that has had some notable casualties in recent months.

In February, the owners of Muss and Turner’s pulled the plug on their East Cobb restaurant at Woodlawn Square further down Johnson Ferry Road.

Zeal was Sawant’s first restaurant as an owner, after he worked at nearby LaMadeleine and with that chain as a corporate trainer.

The East Cobb restaurant scene also has become more competitive in recent months with the opening nearby of Taqueria Tsunami, Black Swan Tavern, La Novia Taqueria and Stockyard Burgers and Bones.

 

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East Cobb Jason’s Deli opening at Merchants Exchange on Oct. 22

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East Cobb Jason's Deli

An update to a story we posted back in May about the forthcoming East Cobb Jason’s Deli location: There is now an opening date.

Benny Marchuk, who’s the manager of the East Cobb location, called East Cobb News today to report that the first day of business will be on Oct. 22.

Opening hours will be from 10-10 seven days a week. The managing partner is Greg Felter.

He also sent the above photo of the outside of the building at the Merchants Festival Shopping Center (1401 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 334), and said there’s still some work being done to renovate the inside.

That’s quite a dramatic difference from the space that used to be Sage Social Kitchen and Houlihan’s.

Marchuk also said he’s in the process of hiring, and is accepting applications for the positions listed below on the flyer (here’s the link to apply online).

The Texas-based fast casual eatery chain operates 275 restaurants in 28 states, including 16 in Georgia and two in Cobb, near Cumberland and Town Center malls.

In addition to traditional deli-style menu options, Jason’s Deli also serves burgers, salads (and a salad bar), vegetarian dishes, soups, pasta entrees and a kid’s menu.

 

Related story

 

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The Cook’s Warehouse closing East Cobb location at Merchant’s Walk

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The Cook's Warehouse

The following message was sent out last week by the management of The Cook’s Warehouse, which opened next to Whole Foods in the redeveloped Merchant’s Walk Shopping Center in 2011:

Dear East Cobb Community,

After over 7 wonderful years in the East Cobb community, we have made the difficult business decision to close our East Cobb location at Merchant’s Walk. We have thoroughly enjoyed giving you “Every Excuse to Cook” at this location, and we sincerely hope you will continue to shop with us at our Midtown or Peachtree Station locations, or online at www.cookswarehouse.com. We will be continuing to pursue opportunities for our next location as we continue to expand our business.

As we prepare to close in East Cobb, we hope you will visit for some once-only savings. Starting today, we are offering 10% off everything in the East Cobb Store only, excluding Big Green Egg and Kamado Joe Packages (which are already at incredible, deeper discounts at this time). The last scheduled class at East Cobb will be Italian Trattoria Date Night Hands On on November 17th. We hope you will consider joining one of our classes before then by visiting classes.cookswarehouse.com. We will be rescheduling some of our classes scheduled after that date at one of our other locations.

We look forward to being a continuing culinary resource for everyone in the East Cobb community and look forward to your continued business.

According to the Atlanta retail blog ToNeTo The Cook’s Warehouse owner Mary Moore also closed a store in downtown Decatur last year, and “plans to relocate both the Decatur and East Cobb locations when the ideal locations become available. “

 

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Kennesaw State athletics director discusses ‘Flight Plan’ for post-college success

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Milton Overton, Kennesaw State athletics director
“Your purpose in life is where your passion is,” said Milton Overton, who became KSU athletics director in the fall of 2017. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)

While Cobb County’s college football team continues to soar on the field, how those athletes prepare for what they do once they graduate is regarded as just as important.

Milton Overton, the Kennesaw State athletics director, pointed to himself as an example.

“I’m a guy who wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for being able to play football,” said Overton, the guest speaker at Tuesday’s East Cobb Business Association luncheon.

An offensive lineman for the powerhouse team at Oklahoma, he has also earned two master’s degrees and nearly completed his work on a doctorate.

“Education is the great equalizer, the vehicle for many Americans to have success.”

Overton, who arrived at KSU last fall, has enjoyed a 25-year career as a college sports administrator, and at some of the top programs in the country, including Alabama and Texas A & M.

Along the way, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of what it takes for athletes to succeed on the field, as well as away from it.

Like many college athletic departments, KSU has a special program to help with the latter. It’s called “Flight Path,” and Overton stressed how good work habits and discipline for athletes now will help when they’re ready to begin their non-sports work careers.

In the Flight Plan program, KSU student-athletes work with a “career coach” to help them assess post-college working opportunities. Those coaches are local professionals who share information about their fields.

Current student-athletes also hear from KSU graduates who played sports, and who offer practical advice on what it’s like in the adult world.

The highly-regimented schedules of college athletes, Overton said, offer them an opportunity to enter the work world with an advantage.

He said the graduation rate for athletes is often higher than non-athletes at many universities because of additional tutoring and academic services.

If a young person is accustomed to “12-hour days over four years,” he said, he or she is “more than likely with an employer to have a good shot” at securing a good job.

Now the third-largest university in Georgia with nearly 35,000 students, KSU has quickly succeeded since beginning varsity football in 2015.

The Owls, who are ranked fifth nationally in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), reached the national quarterfinals a year ago. Overton recently extended the contract of head coach Brian Bohannon through 2023, and KSU is trying to sell 30,000 tickets for a November game at SunTrust Park.

Overton was hired by then-KSU president Sam Olens after two years as athletics director at Florida A & M, which was undergoing financial struggles.

The FCS designation is just below the Football Bowl Subdivision, where Georgia and Georgia Tech play. Overton said that for now, there’s no desire for KSU to make a move up, as Georgia State has done.

“We want to be where we have a chance to complete,” he said. “If we keep doing what we’re doing, at some point” there may be some consideration. “This school is primed to do some good things,” he said, and not just in sports.

“KSU is a rocket ship,” Overton said. “I’m just trying to hold on.”

 

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Update: Publix Greenwise Market confirms East Cobb location

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After word got out in June about East Cobb being Publix GreenWise Market’s choice for its first Georgia location, the grocery chain has made it official. Publix GreenWise Market

The planned mixed-use center on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School will be anchored by a 25,000-square foot GreenWise Market, which features organic and natural groceries and products.

It’s considered a competitor to Whole Foods and Sprouts, which have East Cobb locations in the Roswell-Johnson Ferry corridor.

The East Cobb store will be part of the first slate of GreenWise Market locations opening soon in the Southeast.

The first is coming next month in Tallahassee, with stores in the works and planned to open next year in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Lakeland, Fla. (where Publix is based) and Boca Raton.

Publix isn’t saying for now when the East Cobb store is opening, but it also could be sometime in 2019.

All that Publix Senior Vice President of Retail Operations Kevin Murphy said in today’s announcement is that “we admire the diverse cultural landscape and deep history of the Atlanta area. We look forward to creating a unique experience for our Atlanta-area customers.”

The new 100,000-square-foot project at Sandy Plains Road and Shallowford Road, which hasn’t been named, is being developed by Fuqua Development of Atlanta, which is the developer of The Battery Atlanta and the Kennesaw Marketplace, which includes a Whole Foods store.

Other plans for Fuqua’s East Cobb complex on the former school site include restaurants, retail shops, a bank and a self-storage facility.

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Support local businesses at the East Cobb Business Association Expo

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East Cobb Business Association Expo
Learn more about local businesses and network with their owners while supporting public safety personnel: Those are the twin objectives of the East Cobb Business Association Expo, which takes place on Oct. 2.

That’s on a Tuesday, and the event runs from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at the Olde Towne Athletic Club (4950 Olde Towne Parkway).

(Disclaimer: East Cobb News is an ECBA member, and we’ll have a booth at the Expo, so if you plan to come please do say hello!)

Registration is free to the first 500 networkers, and will include giveaways, drawings, food and more (click here to sign up).

There are limited exhibitor spots still available at $125 for ECBA members and $175 for non-members.

For the last three years, the ECBA has held the Expo for networking purposes and to promote small and independent business in East Cobb.

That dovetails with the mission of East Cobb News, which is catered to community-minded readers and solicits support from local businesses.

That’s because our motto is “Be local! Buy local! Support local!”

Proceeds from the Expo will help the ECBA organize its annual appreciation dinners for Cobb Police Precinct 4 personnel and the Cobb Fire Department (here’s our coverage from last year).

The police event is coming up in the fall, and if you’d like to help out, donations and sponsorships are still available.

The sponsors for the Expo include Solana East Cobb, Minuteman Press Sandy Springs, Honest-1 Auto Care and Providential Signworks.

Here’s more on the exhibitors and other Expo information.

 

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Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby Cobb office opens on Johnson Ferry Road

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Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby Cobb office

Thanks to Austin Northenor for letting us know about the recent opening of the Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby Cobb office at 1000 Johnson Ferry Road:

Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty’s Cobb Office opened its doors with 21 agents and staff members, all equipped with prestigious and intimate knowledge of Cobb County and a commitment to providing extraordinary service to home buyers and sellers.

On Tuesday, August 14, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce formally welcomed the leading Metro Atlanta luxury real estate firm’s fourth branch with a special ribbon cutting ceremony.

“Our affiliation with the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce is an honorable partnership,” said David Boehmig, President and Co-Founder of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty. “We opened the Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty Cobb Office to offer residents our award-winning and unparalleled business strategy, and the Chamber not only recognizes that, but also supports our mission. With combined efforts and a shared passion for Cobb County’s growth, we look forward to future opportunities with this organization!”

As Vice President and Managing Broker for Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty’s Cobb Office, Jim Glover offers more than 20 years of experience, including 10 successful years as a top-performing agent with Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty.

“As a six-generation Marietta native, I couldn’t be more thrilled, and proud, about our new office,” said Jim Glover. “With a team of some of the finest agents, I’m confident and enthusiastic about our future in Cobb County!”

 

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Kayhill’s Sports Bar and Grill opening soon in East Cobb

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Kayhill's Sports Bar and Grill

Coming soon to the Pavilions at East Lake, likely this month: Kayhill’s Sports Bar and Grill, next to the J. Christopher’s.

Kayhill’s will take up more than 10,000 square feet, the largest space in the retail center at 2100 Roswell Road behind the Kroger store, according to Brixmor, the Pavilions management company.

Owner James Kayhill formerly owned the Marietta Billiard Club in the East Cobb Station strip center at 1355 Roswell Road (formerly Town and Country), and in January announced the new location that was tentatively called Archer’s Place.

That’s a reference pro pool player Johnny ‘”The Scorpion” Archer, a Marietta Billiard Club headliner and Acworth resident. No word on the name change for the moment.

According to WhatNowAtlanta Kayhill’s will have billiards and dart space, but has made a more general sports bar branding decision.

It’s doing so in a competitive part of East Cobb for such a concept.

Just down the road at 2217 Roswell Road is Mazzy’s, which also features billiards and darts.

Across the street, at the East Lake Shopping Center, is longstanding The Wing Cafe and Tap House, which has live music on the weekends.

ToNeTo Atlanta is reporting that the old Marietta Billiard Club space is becoming a Planet Fitness location in an area that is trying to revitalize with the I-75 managed lanes opening soon, including an access point at Roswell Road.

 

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Burger’s Market closing Sept. 1 after 45 years on Canton Road

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Burger's Market closing
Vine-ripe tomatoes are among the popular produce items that have drawn customers to Burger’s Market since the 1970s. (East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker)

On Sept. 1, the Burger’s Market is closing on Canton Road, where it has operated for more than four decades as a haven for fans of fresh produce.

Co-owners Sharilyn Burger Turner and Tina Burger Perry, sisters who took over the business from their parents in 2002, have found a buyer for their property at 1395 Canton Road. They put the market up for sale earlier this year.

Sharilyn Burger Turner said the decision to sell was bittersweet, but their parents, who are still active in the market, want to retire. A family business through-and-through, it’s been a hard business to maintain, despite the market’s success, and she said it was time to call time on what’s also been an abiding passion.

Burger's Market closing
Sharilyn Burger Turner (right) and her mother (at left) meet with customers after announcing the market will close Sept. 1. 

“It was a very hard decision,” Turner said Wednesday afternoon, not long after announcing the closure. “We love all of our customers and friends. We’ve been praying hard about it, that God would lead us in the right direction.”

Truman Burger, her father, opened a fresh produce market a little further up on Canton Road in 1973, then moved it to its present location at the intersection of Dickson Road in 1978.

Produce hailing from local sources, Georgia and the Southeast has been the centerpiece of the market, which has expanded to include jams, breads, artisanal and homemade food goods, as well as fresh herbs and plants.

Sharilyn and her mother were visiting with long-time customers, even exchanging a few hugs after breaking the news. For the week and a half that Burger’s will remain open, she says they will continue to do business as usual (the hours are 9-6 Monday-Saturday).

Truman Burger makes daily trips to the state farmer’s market in Forest Park, and other produce-procuring routines also will continue, including occasional visits to the Western North Carolina Farmers Market in Asheville.

Burger's Market closing

Burger's Market closing

Burger's Market closing

Huge fans kept shoppers cool, with full supplies of what has drawn fresh-food lovers to Burger’s for decades. Vine-ripe tomatoes, very big and very red ones, are piled high in baskets.

“We built this business on vine-ripe tomatoes,” Sharilyn says. But that is hardly all.

Shelled peas, beans, zucchini and squash, okra, cucumbers, broccoli, turnips and collards, peppers, lettuce, cauliflower, peanuts, corn, onions and potatoes are organized neatly.

So are melons, bananas, oranges, pears, apples and other fruits. There’s plenty of elbow room, and so much to choose from. Out front, fresh plants sit in overflow fashion on tables.

Burger's Market closing

This is all Sharilyn, Tina, their siblings and their own families have known.

“We grew up in banana boxes here,” says Sharilyn, whose children also have been raised around the market.

“It’s scary when you’ve never done anything else. But you have to think of this as a new adventure. God closes one door, and opens another one.”

Burger's Market closing

The new owner has not said what might occupy the place where Burger’s Market is now.

Sharilyn said she’s unsure what her next step will be. She majored in psychology in college, and has thought of possibly putting that background to use in an assisted living environment.

“I love helping people,” she says, “but I’d like to think that we’ve been doing that here” at the market. “We just have wanted to make a difference with what we’ve been doing every single day.”

She admits saying goodbye to customers will be as hard as shutting the doors for good.

“They’re family.”

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Report: Sage Woodfire Tavern Windy Hill restaurant put up for sale

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Sage Woodfire Tavern Windy Hill

Less than a year after it opened, the Sage Woodfire Tavern Windy Hill restaurant is on the auction block.

ToNeTo Atlanta, which covers Atlanta-area restaurant and retail doings, reported Tuesday that the restaurant at 3050 Windy Hill Road and Powers Ferry Road has been listed for sale with a selling price of around $250,000 and a monthly lease of just under $25,000.

Last month the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that the Sage Woodfire Tavern group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but there was no indication if any of its restaurants would be individually closed or put up for sale.

The Windy Hill location is adjacent to what’s known as Restaurant Row along Powers Ferry Road, and which has a rezoning case for a mixed-use development coming before the Cobb Board of Commissioners next week.

That project would include apartments and an active senior living community and retain the Rose & Crown Tavern, the only existing business surrounded by vacant restaurant space.

The Cobb Planning Commission recommended approval, but some nearby residents are opposed.

The Sage Woodfire Tavern property, which was once the site of a Houston’s restaurant, is not part of that assemblage.

The Sage Woodfire group also briefly operated the Sage Social Kitchen at the Merchants Festival. It closed last fall after only a few months in business.

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East Cobb Biz Note: RaceTrac now open at Roswell Road and Old Canton Road

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The RaceTrac gas station and convenience store that’s been under construction in front of the Olde Mill Shopping Center for the last few months is now open.

Inside the store is a coffee shop with WiFi. It’s just across the intersection from the QuikTrip, and the competing businesses are matching each other on fuel prices.

The Carwash USA that used to be located where the new RaceTrac is now will be re-opening soon, but hasn’t announced a specific location.

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East Cobb healthy eating advocate, shopowner pens new cookbook

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Smita Daya, East Cobb healthy eating advocate
“I want you to be able to go home and cook,” says Smita Daya, co-owner of the Olea Oliva! store and author of a new cookbook of plant-based recipes. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)

For Smita Daya, preparing a plant-based, olive oil-infused cuisine using natural herbs and spices has been a way of life. The East Cobb healthy eating advocate opened the Olea Oliva! store at The Avenue East Cobb two years ago to spread her passion for wholesome, easy-to-make dishes to those wanting to alter their own eating habits.

The shop sells more than 60 varieties of gourmet extra-virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars, as well as spices, herbs, teas and other items that make up her “healthy eating and healthy cooking” philosophy. She also teaches classes there once a week.

“The passion for healthy cooking has always been there,” she explains.

In September, she’ll be publishing a cookbook, “An Odyssey of Flavors,” which contains many of her favorite recipes that she believes can be made easily and quickly, even for the busiest home cook.

That’s because she’s been one herself.

An olive oil comparison chart explained by Dilip Daya, ranging from delicate to medium to robust.

Smita and Dilip Daya, her husband and Olea Oliva! co-owner, grew up in Africa as members of families that planted, harvested and cooked their own vegetables. She left her native Zambia for an English boarding school at the age of 12. He lived on a farm in Mozambique.

When they arrived in the United States as younger adults, they brought their food habits with them, and have not wavered in passing them along.

Smita was a paralegal in the corporate world for 25 years, rising well before dawn every morning to prepare that evening’s dinner before going to work. She also made sure her now-grown daughters (both Walton High School graduates) packed homemade, healthy lunches. No cafeteria fare, but hummus dips, yogurts and salads.

The Dayas don’t eat meat, poultry or fish, although they help customers who do by offering paleo seasoning bags (no processed ingredients) specially mixed for each kind of dish.

Smita says that “it’s a lot of discipline, but it was never a question” about whether to maintain a plant-based diet.

Olea Oliva, Dilip Daya
“Some people treat olive oil like ketchup,” says Dilip Daya, a certified olive oil sommelier. But “like wine, olives have styles” and there are more than 2,000 varietals.

The dishes in her cookbook are all vegetarian. The only dairy products are in her homemade paneer cheese and yogurt. Sugar is used only in desserts. Very little salt is included in any recipe.

Most of all, it’s the olive oils, herbs and spices that are at the heart of her philosophy. Former neighbors now run a fresh pressed-olive farm near Florence, Italy, where the Dayas have a co-share interest.

Dilip, whose day job is as a computer engineer with a Hewlett-Packard R and D lab, visits every 18 months or so. He’s an olive oil sommelier certified by the UC-Davis Robert Mondavi Institute and is an industrial chemist.

She makes the spices on site at the store, and makes weekend rounds at local markets, including Martin’s Garden at Coleman Farms in Roswell.

“Eat better, not less,” Smita says. “It’s all about flavor, about an explosion” of tastes that burst from the recipes. They’re designed to be easy to prepare, using only a few ingredients that are readily available:

  • Herbaceous Kale Salad
  • Slow Cooker Red Lentil and Vegetable Soup
  • Broccoli Dal
  • Sorghum Pizza
  • Baby Stuffed Eggplant
  • Penne Pasta with Vegetables
  • Kohlrabi Masala Curry

The latter is a recipe she’ll be demonstrating at a class on Aug. 30. She said for some, the most challenging ingredient can be a commitment to cooking this way every day.

“You have to be passionate about being in the kitchen,” she said, “to be passionate about your family’s health.”

Smita, who has a certificate as a plant-based nutritionist from Cornell University, also will be doing a demonstration at the Atlanta Food Expo in September at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

“I want you to go home and be able to cook,” she said. “I love empowering people, to give them skills and tips to do healthy things.”

“An Odyssey of Flavors,” published by Atlanta-based VMH Publishing, can be preordered and will be sold on the Olea Oliva! website after Sept. 4. The store is located at 4475 Roswell Road, Suite 1000. Phone: 770-321-0099.

 

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Scene in East Cobb: Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square construction site

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Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square

It’s all come down. Bulldozers have just about cleared what was left of the old Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square location on Johnson Ferry Road.

The construction site has been fenced off as work continues to build a new store that includes a double drive-through lane and a reconfigured parking lot.

The popular fast-food restaurant has been closed since July 6 and is scheduled to reopen in November, but a specific date hasn’t been announced.

Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square

Traffic in and out of the shopping center hasn’t been altered, as the construction vehicles (thus far, at least) have fit onto the work site.

Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square

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East Cobb Business Association seeking donors, sponsors for public safety appreciation dinners

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Precinct 4 officers honored at the East Cobb Business Association’s Public Safety Appreciation Dinner in 2017. (East Cobb News file photo)

The East Cobb Business Association is once again organizing public safety dinners for Cobb police and firefighters, and is asking for financial and prize donations and sponsorships.

The dinner for Precinct 4 police personnel is in the fall, and for county firefighters in April.

Susan Hampton and Kim Paris, co-chairs of the dinner, have sent out an appeal, and here’s more about the level of community involvement in the event:

We are blessed to live, work and raise our families in this wonderful community. We appreciate the continued support of The East Cobb Business Association, event host, and the presenting sponsor, WellStar East Cobb Health Park. Both are represented on the event committee that also includes individuals from East Cobb community-based groups including the Cobb Chamber’s East Cobb Area Council, East Cobb Citizen of the Year award recipients, area civic clubs, and representatives from both the police and fire departments.

We are delighted to continue to work together to plan these appreciation events, and to raise the funds necessary to insure their success. We are reaching out to individuals, businesses, civic and other nonprofit organizations, schools, neighborhoods and churches, and hope you will join us in support of our Public Safety heroes!

Monetary donations can be made in any amount, and for $25 individuals will be identified with a “Thank a Hero” card delivered to public safety honorees at the events.

Here’s more about donating and sponsoring, which run from $250 (silver), $500 (gold) and $1,000 (platinum). There’s also an online sign-up form and other information at that link.

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Bookmiser Roswell store closing on Sandy Plains Road in September

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Bookmiser Roswell store closing

Twenty years after first opening an independent bookstore in East Cobb, the owners of the Bookmiser Roswell store are closing it.

Owners Jim and Annell Gerson announced Tuesday that they’re closing the store at 4651 Sandy Plains Road by the end of September, and that a liquidation sale has begun for everything, including books, books on CD, fixtures and accessories.

Most items will be an additional 20 percent off during the liquidation. A specific closing date hasn’t been announced.

Their other Bookmiser store, at 3822 Roswell Road, at the intersection of Robinson Road East, is remaining open.

No more trades will be accepted at the Roswell store, which will keep its usual store hours as it prepares to close: Sunday 12-5; Mon-Fri 10-7; Sat 10-6.

Here’s more in a message sent out last night to Bookmiser customers:

Thank you all for making the Roswell location one of longest running bookstore locations in the state of Georgia.

Discounting of our inventory at the Roswell location will begin immediately, so please stop by for the extra savings. Early bird gets the worm, so stop by soon and often to take advantage of our discounts. Trade credit will still apply on any used merchandise purchased at either location.

The liquidation process does not lend itself to placing books “on hold” or searching for specific titles, so come on by and enjoy the search.

We hope all our Roswell customers will frequent our East Cobb store in the future. We will continue our off-site author events, and book clubs will meet at our East Cobb location.

Bookmiser opened in 1998, as retail brick-and-mortar book chains began faltering. The Borders location at The Avenue East Cobb closed in 2011 as the chain was liquidated. There also was a Bookstar store (part of Barnes & Noble) at the Providence Square Shopping Center in the 1990s.

Other indie book stores have come into East Cobb since then: Book Exchange on Canton Road, Once and Again Books on Shallowford Road and a Book Nook at 1547 Roswell Road.

They also have a buying and trading program, as does Half Price Books, a national chain that opened in East Cobb at Woodlawn Square on Johnson Ferry Road in 2016.

 

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