Alon’s Bakery at Perimeter faces uncertain future

The future of Alon’s Bakery and Market in Dunwoody is up in the air.

According to owner Alon Balshan, the lease at 4505 Ashford Dunwoody Road across from Perimeter Mall is set to expire at the end of February and he is skeptical about renewing it because the 11,000-square-foot space is too expansive for the current needs of the business.

When Balshan opened the Perimeter location 15 years ago, the space was used as a retail store, market and production facility. “There was a lot going on in that building and no place to go production-wise,” he said.

Just prior to the pandemic, he acquired a 20,000-square-foot building in Chamblee and shifted production there. “That left this building with the income of a restaurant and catering,” he said. “Then along comes Mr. Corona and he shuffles up all the cards.”

Foot traffic plummeted as did catering. While patronage has improved, staffing issues have not.

“I’m paying very high dollar for a store that can be 3,000 square feet in a store that is 11,000 square feet,” Balshan explained. “The math doesn’t add up.”

Balshan said that the closure of the Perimeter location is not an absolute since the lease could be extended or the terms changed. “We are still thinking about some ideas,” he said. “They want us to stay a little bit longer there. But for now, that’s the verdict.”

There are no plans to shut the original location in Virginia-Highland, operating since 1992, or the shop that opened last year at Phipps Plaza.

Balshan confirmed that he had discussed the possibility of a space at Krog Street Market, owned by Asana Partners, but that they were “just discussions.”