Shirley Gouffon of Selig Enterprises – CB2 to Open a Flagship at 1010 Midtown, Atlanta

HEADLINE: CB2 to Open a Flagship in New Atlanta Development

The resurgence of the city of Atlanta has a new partner: homefurnishing store CB2.

The company, an offshoot of Northbrook, Ill.-based Crate &Barrel, will soon open a 14,000 square-foot store in the new 12th& Midtown mixed-use development off Peachtree Street in theheart of Atlanta. It will be the seventh CB2 store, joininglocations in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Berkeley, Calif.Founded in 2000, the concept caters to young, urban and hipconsumers and its prices are slightly lower than at traditionalCrate & Barrel stores-a fact the company says will helpit develop a solid customer base in the Midtown area when the storeopens in the summer of 2010.

“The affordability and accessibility of our CB2 collectionreally resonates with customers these days,” says Vicki Lang,Crate & Barrel spokeswoman. ” The brand is doing verywell, so this is a good time to expand our store marketpresence.”

Lang says the company chose the Midtown area because of its”great potential and energy,” calling it “theperfect urban environment for our brand.” The area has beenexperiencing new popularity among the young and urban as morepeople choose to live closer to work and forgo a long commute tothe suburbs.

Shirley Gouffon, senior vice president at Selig EnterprisesInc.-the developer of the 12th & Midtownproject-says the area has changed in the past five years asmore multi-family residences have been built and density hasincreased. Now, she says, there is not enough retail to support thehigher density. “Midtown is probably the most under retailedpart of the country right now,” she says.

The seven-phase, $2 billion development still has a long way togo before it is complete. Gouffon, whose job entails convincingretailers to come on board, has announced five tenants for Phase 1of the project, which includes about 50,000 square feet of retailspace. CB2 is one of those tenants. Gouffon says CB2 was a perfectfit, mainly because the store is unique to Atlanta.

Although Atlanta residents are familiar with Crate & Barrel,many have not seen the merchandise in a CB2, which varies fairlysubstantially and has more options for shoppers looking forfurniture that can fit in small spaces. The demographics of thearea, she says, also roughly match CB2’s corecustomer-about 33 years old, urban and college-educated.

Gouffon says for companies like Crate & Barrel, Midtown canbe a great opportunity to build a captive audience.”It’s never easy with today’s economicchallenges. So many retailers do have expansion on hold,” shesays. “But for those retailers that are expanding, theyreally see the benefit of Midtown.”

-Lauren Shepherd

LOAD-DATE: October 28, 2009