At Northlake Mall, the Businesses With Outside Doors Are the Ones Still Open

Which stops on your Northlake Mall errand list are still there? From Oak Grove, the mall is a short drive east on LaVista Road, just over the line in the City of Tucker. This summer brought it a new owner, eviction notices, and a lot of confusing coverage. The answer to that question turns out to be fairly predictable. If a business has its own door to the parking lot, it is very likely still open. If you used to reach it by walking down the mall corridor, it has probably left.

That split is not an accident. It tells you what the building has been turning into for the better part of a decade, and why the latest changes look sudden from outside but weren't.

The notices went to the corridor tenants

On May 29, 2026, about 10 businesses inside the mall were told the property had been sold and they had 30 days to vacate. The AJC's June 4 report described the same 30-day window. Rough Draft Atlanta named Tagz Sportz Box, Evolve Clothiers and Happy Land among the interior stores that got notices, alongside Challenges Games and Comics.

Local retail blog ToNeTo Atlanta reported that those interior tenants were reportedly on short-term leases or below-market rents. The tradeoff was a "kick out" clause that let the owner end the leases if redevelopment plans changed. The affordable rent came with an exit clause attached. When the sale came through, that clause was used.

The same report said the exterior-access businesses had long-term leases and weren't affected by the notices. As of their official listings this fall, here's where things stand.

Taken together, Thursday dinner at Dugan's, a barbecue pickup, a stop at the credit union drive-through and a new pair of sneakers all still work the way they did last spring.

The outparcels were built for exactly this

The newest buildings at Northlake sit at the edge of the parking lot, and that matters. Jim 'N Nick's opened in a newly built outparcel in February 2026, after a long wait. In March, Stamp & Coin moved out of its longtime space inside the mall and into another new outparcel building. It is the mall's longest-running continuously operating tenant.

ToNeTo pointed out that the move seemed ill-advised at the time and may have kept the shop from being forced out in June. One caution if you're heading over. Stamp & Coin's own website still shows its old interior suite at 4800 Briarcliff Rd., Suite 2040, and we couldn't confirm its new street address. Call ahead before you drive over with a coin collection.

Read the pattern this way. Retail at Northlake has been moving outward, onto pads with their own entrances and their own parking. The inside of the building has been moving toward a different use entirely.

Emory was already filling the inside

Early reports in June said Emory Healthcare bought the mall. That's not quite what happened. Emory announced on July 2 that the Centurion Foundation, an Atlanta-based nonprofit, had purchased Northlake Mall in a deal that closed July 1. Decaturish reported the price at $95 million. Emory is the tenant. Its new lease will more than double the roughly 274,000 square feet it has leased at the mall since 2019.

That 2019 date is the key to the whole story. Sears closed in 2018 and JCPenney in 2020. By early 2021, construction was underway to turn the former Sears and Kohl's spaces into Emory space, with the health system expected to move in by late 2021 or early 2022. Emory has since added a child care center run with Primrose School, which opened in 2024, and a primary care center that opened in 2025. The interior shops that left this summer were the last retail inside a building that had mostly turned into healthcare offices one anchor at a time.

The sale's boundaries matter too. According to the same Decaturish report, the deal included the vacant Macy's building, which had already closed, and left out the adjacent J.C. Penney site. So the J.C. Penney box has its own separate future.

What the Emory side means for your errands

For an Oak Grove household, the bigger Emory footprint mostly shows up as appointments. Emory at Northlake Primary Care is at 4786 Briarcliff Road NE, Suite 200, and offers primary care, mammography and lab services. Emory also runs administrative departments out of its Northlake administration building at 2201 Henderson Mill Road. Its release also mentions that Emory owns the Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital on nearby Montreal Road.

Emory says the newly leased space at the mall will add room to consolidate Emory Healthcare business functions and support future operational needs. That's the full extent of the public commitment. The announcement doesn't promise a hospital, new public-facing clinics, or a construction schedule.

Challenges found a new home a few doors down LaVista

The displaced tenant with the clearest next chapter is Challenges Games and Comics. It has moved before. It came to Northlake in 2023 after leaving North DeKalb Mall, which has since been demolished. The shop took possession of its new space at Northlake Festival Shopping Center on July 27 and held a soft opening on the last Friday of July. The AJC visited on August 19 and found the store open, and reported that customers had helped with the move.

The new address is 3983 LaVista Road, Suite 189. From Oak Grove, that's actually a slightly easier stop than the old one, because you park right out front and skip the walk through the mall. Hours are posted on the shop's website.

We couldn't confirm what happened to Tagz Sportz Box, Evolve Clothiers or Happy Land. If you were a regular at any of them, check directly with the owners before assuming they've closed or moved.

What's still undecided at the site

The summer's news settled who owns the mall and who leases most of it. It didn't settle what the property will look like. Here's what's known as of early October:

1. No filed plans. In June, as FOX 5 reported, Tucker Mayor Anne Lerner noted on Facebook that no rezoning or permit requests were on file for the property. On August 12, the Tucker-Northlake CID's summer roundup repeated the sale news and mentioned no construction schedule or site work.
2. The apartment idea was never filed. The concept of 495 apartments came informally from the previous ownership team and never became a formal application.
3. The J.C. Penney parcel stands apart. It wasn't part of the Centurion purchase, so whatever happens there follows its own timeline.
4. A trail is moving nearby. On July 13, Tucker City Council approved a GDOT right-of-way agreement for the Tucker-Northlake Trail. That's a separate project from the mall, but it's in the same area.

So for now, Northlake works like this. The ring of restaurants, the credit union and Foot Locker are open. The interior belongs to Emory's offices and clinics. The comic shop is across LaVista at Northlake Festival.

Owning a home near a corridor like this means keeping an eye on what actually gets filed for these properties, beyond the headlines. Sherry follows those changes along LaVista and Briarcliff as they happen. If you're wondering how a commercial shift up the road affects the value of your Oak Grove home, Sherry Poland can walk you through it. Request a free consultation or an instant home valuation.