ToNeTo Atlanta has learned that the former Sears at Cumberland Mall near Smyrna will be divided rather than demolished. The former two-level department store will become home to at least three new tenants. The spaces will range from about 16,000 square feet to about 75,000 square feet. The roughly 190,000 square foot Sears store has been vacant since last fall when it and 45 others nationwide were closed amidst the retailer's continued financial struggles.

The two larger tenants have reportedly been signed and will include a new location of entertainment facility Round1, as well as a combination Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy store, a Dick's-owned golf specialty store.





Round1 will occupy the entire lower level of the former Sears store, some 85,000 square feet. Dick's and Golf Galaxy will occupy about 70,000 square feet of the upper floor with a roughly 16,000 square foot space still on the market and available for multiple tenants.





The new Round1 at Cumberland is perhaps a new model for the facility as it does not fit within any of the existing sizes described on the company's website. The Round1 website describes three sizes of facilities: Compact Type 40,000 – 50,000 square feet, Regular Type 50,000 – 60,000 square feet and Stadium Type 105,000 – 120,000 square feet.

Round1 will occupy the lower level seen here

Both Round1 and Dick's have been scooping up space left vacant from recent department store closures such as Sears and Macy's. This past May, Dick's opened new mall-based stores in Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, North Carolina and Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, Texas. The Pineville store, as at Cumberland, is a combo store whereas the Beaumont store is only a Dick's. Both stores were previously Macy's. The Round1 website indicates that the Japan-based company has many locations already in malls around the country and plenty of additional mall-based locations "coming soon."





The first Atlanta area location of Round One Entertainment opened at Lithonia's The Mall at Stonecrest in 2017. Here, the game and entertainment facility opened in space from several smaller stores combined. According to the Round1 website, their facilities, which offer bowling, amusement games, billiards, karaoke, darts and ping pong, among other offerings, attract an estimated 100,000 people in foot traffic annually. People who have visited Round1 facilities tell ToNeTo Atlanta that one thing that sets them apart is that oftentimes they feature hard-to-find or as yet unavailable domestically, Japanese video games.





Rival entertainment facility Main Event, a Dallas, Texas-based entertainment facility, opened in 2014 at nearby Parkway Pointe shopping center. Main Event occupies 61,272 square feet in space previously home to Crunch Fitness and reportedly does "quite well."

Future home of Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy

The Cumberland Mall Dick's will be the second mall-based store in metro Atlanta for the Coraopolis, Pennsylvania-based sporting goods retailer. The company already operates a store at Mall of Georgia in Buford. The store at Mall of Georgia opened as a Galyan's but was converted to a Dick's following the 2004 acquisition of Galyan's by Dick's.





Dick's Sporting Goods had previously won the auction to take over the former Sports Authority at nearby Akers Mill, but reportedly could not come to terms with center owner Olshan Properties and subsequently abandoned their plans. As ToNeTo Atlanta has previously reported, Total Wine & More has already opened in a portion of the old Sports Authority with Five Below , Oshkosh B'Gosh/Carters and Phenix Salons opening soon.





Kroger was in talks in 2015 to open a new grocery store on one level of the mall, but by 2016, the plan was dead. Part of what sources indicate killed that deal was that the Cumberland Mall Sears store was one of 235 Sears or kmart stores that Sears Holdings spun off in July 2015 into Seritage Growth Properties, a private Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).





In 2017, Seritage sold off some of its holdings, while at the same time entering into JV partnerships on others. Cumberland Mall was one in which it entered into a partnership with GGP (now Brookfield Properties), Cumberland Mall's owner. This past fall, CBRE purchased a stake in Cumberland Mall , as well as two other former GGP (now Brookfield) malls, meaning that the Sears box is now controlled by Seritage, Brookfield and CBRE.





When Cumberland Mall opened in 1973, it was anchored by Rich's, Davison's, Sears and JCPenney. Today, none of those anchors remain and two of them have demolished altogether. The former Davison's (Macy's) closed in 2003, and in 2006 was replaced with several restaurants (Ted's Montana Grill, The Cheesecake Factory, Stoney River, P.F. Chang's etc.) that face Cobb Parkway. The former JCPenney was also demolished in 2005, replaced on November 15, 2006 by a freestanding Costco store. The former Rich's store today operates as the mall's Macy's store.





Research indicates that Cumberland Mall generates sales in excess of $600 per square foot and is Brookfield's best performing mall in the Atlanta market, besting not only North Point but Perimeter Mall, too. Sources close to the mall indicate that occupancy is currently above 98%.

Interest is high in the former Sears Auto Center

The former Sears Auto Center, located in a freestanding building along Akers Mill Road in an outparcel of the department store, is being targeted for redevelopment, reportedly by a number of interested parties. One idea that has been floated is for the site to become a new fire station. Other possibilities fort the site include development of multifamily residential, hotel and / or restaurants.

A Bad Mom's Christmas, will soon close in the wake of its parent company's second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The space is about 4,000 square feet and is well situated for their restaurant or retail purposes and will likely be in high demand given it provides visibility both inside and outside. In addition to the changes at the former Sears, the mall will soon regain the current Charming Charlie space at the end of the mall closest to Costco. The store, which as we have previously reported was used a filming location for the hit 2018 comedy, will soon close in the wake of its parent company's second Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The space is about 4,000 square feet and is well situated for their restaurant or retail purposes and will likely be in high demand given it provides visibility both inside and outside.

Charming Charlie amidst its liquidation sale

It's expected that work on the former Sears space will begin before the end of the year and that Round1, Dick's & Golf Galaxy will open in mid to late 2020.



Are you excited for the additions of Round1, Dick's and Golf Galaxy to Cumberland Mall? What would you like to see open in the remaining available space? What would you like to see open in place of Charming Charlie at Cumberland Mall?



