Miami Circle’s Revival

The sleepy Buckhead shopping district gains new life
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Photograph by Caroline C. Kilgore

Sure, the antiques galleries with locked doors that sell eight-foot-tall vaisseliers costing more than three years of college tuition are still here. But these days, you don’t have to be able to afford one—or even know what one is (basically, a fancy French hutch)—to enjoy shopping on Miami Circle. The street’s sixty-odd home-related businesses have always welcomed retail customers, but even more so now that the design trade has slowed. A recent influx of art galleries also promises to bump up street traffic. Bennett Street’s loss has been Miami Circle’s gain, as some half a dozen businesses—Pryor Fine Art, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Matre Gallery, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Nottingham Fine Furniture, and Anne Hathaway Designs—have relocated here since January. (Word is that Peachtree Road nightlife was disrupting the once-sedate Brookwood Hills side street.) “The new galleries have added a level of energy and vibrance,” says Charles Reinike, who moved his contemporary art gallery here back in 1993. “It’s like having a renaissance.” miamicircleshops.com

Favorites
Some old favorites to visit while you’re checking out the new shops:

1. Foxglove Antiques & Galleries Art, antiques, and accessories by dealers from Paris to New Orleans. Former First Lady Laura Bush stopped by last year. foxgloveantiques.com

2. The Nicholson Gallery Designer Martha Nicholson gives industrial and vintage artifacts new life. thenicholsongallery.com

3. Dearing Antiques Vintage wicker, majolica, English and French furniture, and Russian impressionist paintings for those of us who still love that country look. dearingantiques.com

4. Belvedere Owner Julia-Carr Bayler was well ahead of the current revival of midcentury modern—endearing her to shelter magazines like Elle Decor and House Beautiful. belvedereinc.com

This article originally appeared in our October 2011 issue.

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