Retail growth continues in Fayetteville, mainly along the Ga. Highway

85 and Ga. Highway 314 corridors, as existing retail centers add

tenants and new projects break ground.

Construction is a common sight at the huge Fayette Pavilion, with

a number of buildings now underway. Among the retail outlets set

to open in the coming months are Kohl's, a Wisconsin-based

department store chain; Dekor, a home decorating and renovation

store, and Casual Corner bath and body shop.

Kohl's currently has no stores in Georgia, with the closest

being in North Carolina. But new stores will soon open here and

in Stockbridge.

The Uptown Square shopping center, across Hwy. 85 from Fayette Pavilion,

has seen the unveiling of Barnes & Noble as well as Linens &

Things in the past four months. Also open there are Mail Boxes Etc.

and AT&T Wireless stores.

A Chili's restaurant is under construction in the front corner

of the Uptown Square parking lot, near the highway.

Fayette Promenade has been approved for its initial development

and will begin construction soon. Plans are for a Kinko's printing

center and a Simmons Bettersleep store to open there in early 2001,

with more to be announced later.

A little farther south, Walgreen's has received approval of

its development plan for a new drug store near the intersection

of Hwys. 85 and 314, just a few hundred feet from the relatively

new Eckerd location.

The most noteworthy would-be addition to Fayetteville in recent

months is one that is not coming anytime soon - Hooters. A

few hundred residents came out recently to protest the restaurant

chain's plans to open next to Eckerd and Applebee's near

Banks Road and Hwys. 85 and 314. But road improvements, not moral

issues, stopped that plan, as JDN Corp. is lagging in fulfillment

of its development agreement with the city regarding that site.

A retail center is being planned for a site just south of the Courthouse

Square, next to Waffle House and near the Kroger shopping center,

but that plan has been tabled by the city recently along with a

few other proposed developments in the area.