In East Cobb This Fall, the Pizza Space Stays a Pizza Space. The Names on the Door Are Changing.

Jasmine Chen ran Chin Chin on Johnson Ferry Road, next to the Waffle House, for 16 years.

In January she signed a lease on the former Zaxby's at 3030 Johnson Ferry Road, across from the Northeast Cobb YMCA. The fast-food space has 3,200 square feet, compared with 4,000 at the old Chin Chin. The dining room is smaller, but the parking lot is bigger. The renamed Chin Chin Chen Asian Fusion seats 80. It brought in furnishings, wallpaper, lighting and even dinner plates from China. The menu still has the classic Chinese dishes Chin Chin has served for three decades. New additions include homemade dumplings, ramen, pork soup dumplings, fried pork buns and a list of bubble teas, which Chen added largely for younger customers. The new space scored 100 on its first health inspection on Aug. 24. A soft opening ran Sept. 1 through 5, and the grand reopening and ribbon-cutting were scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 5.

Chen went looking for a space and turned a chicken-finger drive-through into a sit-down Asian restaurant. Most of this fall's other East Cobb moves have gone the other way. A space empties, and the next tenant does almost the same thing in it.

Sandy Plains Marketplace Is Refilling Two Units With Their Own Categories

At Sandy Plains Marketplace, 3460 Sandy Plains Road, two neighboring spaces are being refilled with businesses much like the ones that left.

The former Queen of Cream in Suite 600 became Baladi Coffee and Matcha in August, the brand's third shop. The first two are near Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw and near the University of Georgia in Athens. The Kennesaw-area shop opened in 2025, so the Sandy Plains location is Baladi's first that isn't next to a college campus. The space still serves a treat-and-a-drink stop, with matcha where the ice cream used to be.

A few doors away, the former MOD Pizza in Suite 250 is being renovated for Solar Slice Pizza. Solar Slice is a Marietta pizzeria at 497 Cobb Parkway SE that makes handcrafted pies and calzones. It opened in 2024, and East Cobb News describes the Sandy Plains space as its second location. As of the Sept. 14 report, no opening timetable had been announced. So the pizza space will stay a pizza space, now run by a Marietta business.

Avenue East Cobb Swaps Waffles for Ice Cream

Avenue East Cobb has followed the same pattern, with a longer gap. Press Waffle Co. served its last customers on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, and the owners didn't give a reason. On Sept. 22, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams announced it is taking that space, Suite 1810 at 4475 Roswell Road, and opening "later this year." No date has been set.

That unit will likely have sat empty for most of 2026, and the replacement is again a dessert shop. Like the Sandy Plains spaces, it's going back to the same kind of business it had before.

Stonewood Village Keeps Its Sports Bar

On Lower Roswell Road the swap is almost exact. Sidelines Grille opened at Stonewood Village, 4719 Lower Roswell Road, Suite 4200, in March 2024. About two and a half years later it has been sold. A sign on the door says a Scoreboard Social will open there in November.

Scoreboard Social is a sports bar company based in Naples, Fla. It registered Scoreboard Social East Cobb, LLC with the Georgia Secretary of State on Aug. 4. Its website lists a menu much like Sidelines': standard sports bar food plus meat, chicken and seafood entrées, desserts and a kids menu. Sidelines started in Cherokee County and still has locations in Canton, Woodstock, Hickory Flat, Cartersville and Jasper. One out-of-area sports bar operator is replacing another, with a similar menu in the same suite.

Getting there should also get easier this fall. Cobb DOT's work on Lower Roswell Road between Woodlawn Drive and Davidson Road includes raised medians and a multi-use trail on the south side. The county's project page lists completion for Nov. 19, 2026, about when Scoreboard Social is due to open.

The Fall Turnover at a Glance

Chin Chin Chen is the only one on that list that changed categories. Every other space is getting a business much like the last one, and the Chick-fil-A is getting the same tenant back.

Where the Pattern Breaks

There are a few exceptions.

The Chick-fil-A East Lake at 2015 Roswell Road keeps its tenant but loses its building. It is closed for a scrape-and-rebuild, served its last customers on a Friday at 7 p.m. in mid-September, and is expected to stay closed until March 2027. That leaves this stretch of Roswell Road without that location for roughly six months.

Urthy has no successor yet. Jen Rotondo opened her body and skincare boutique at Woodlawn Square Shopping Center in November 2023. Customers mixed custom scents at its Blend Bar. She is now closing both the store and the online shop. "Businesses have seasons, and I've reached the point where I know it's time for this one to end," she wrote to customers. Sales are underway on both inventories, and she says she'll announce the final closing date. No tenant has been named for the space.

Merchants Walk is the biggest unknown. Sterling Organization bought the center at 1289 Johnson Ferry Road from EDENS in July and hasn't disclosed its plans. Sterling's directory lists A&J Jewelers as "coming soon" in the former SPENGA space, but it gives no opening date. A new owner of a whole center has more room to change the tenant mix than a single business filling one suite.

Willow River Head Spa adds something new to the area. It opened at 2997 Johnson Ferry Road and held its grand-opening celebration the week of Sept. 17. It sits on the same stretch of Johnson Ferry as Chin Chin Chen's new location. Those two account for most of this season's genuinely new uses along that road.

One project is still well in the future. On Sept. 22, Cobb commissioners approved a $2.3 million project at the Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road intersection. It adds turn and through lanes, raised medians, new signals and pedestrian improvements. Design begins in March 2027, construction in September 2027, and substantial completion is targeted for September 2028. It won't affect driving to these businesses this fall.

The Rest of October

A few dated events are coming up. Atlanta Hard Cider and Distillery is celebrating its fifth anniversary on Oct. 17 from 3 to 8 p.m. at 1010 Roswell Street, near the Big Chicken. The U.S. Marine Band plays Lassiter Concert Hall, 2601 Shallowford Road, on Oct. 25 from 3 to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but you'll need a ticket.

Several of the empty spaces on the table above have opening targets before the year is out. Scoreboard Social has said November, Jeni's has said "later this year," and the Lower Roswell Road work is scheduled to finish Nov. 19. Solar Slice hasn't announced a timetable.

When the shopping centers near your home get new tenants, that changes how buyers see your street, and how quickly a space refills says something about an area. Neumann & Co follows changes like these across East Cobb and can show you how they factor into what your home is worth today. Get Your Home Valuation, and we'll walk you through the numbers.