Exclusive: Ponce City Market announces another round of retail shops

The second batch of stores includes Onward Reserve, plus new-to-market independent boutiques like Q Clothier and Lily Rain
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Ponce City Market
Photograph courtesy of Ponce City Market

With big-box favorites like West Elm and J.Crew already slated to anchor the massive retail space at Ponce City Market, developer Jamestown Properties rounded out the offerings this week, giving Atlanta magazine the scoop on a slew of mostly new-to-market independent boutiques.

Scheduled to roll open this summer, the latest additions to the roster include men’s custom suiting company Q Clothier and its “dry goods” subsidiary, Rye 51. Texas-based Q will pour you a Scotch and guide you through piles of swatches from the best European mills, including Loro Piana, Scabal, and Zegna. Prices for suits—classic, tuxes, or jazzy linens—start around $1,195 (tailored in Hong Kong) or nearly double for Italian crafted. You can also have a custom shirt and shoes whipped up, or arrange an at-home consult.

When off-duty, the beard-sporting, satchel-carrying, oiled-leather-loving guy can get his casual wear next door at Q’s little brother, Rye 51. In keeping with the hipster lifestyle brand vibe of the moment, the store is dubbed a “textile distillery.” Never mind what that means—find some of our favorite men’s lines, like Billykirk, Paul Smith, and Imogene + Willie. Of course, a shop like this wouldn’t be complete without an apothecary.

“We’re focused on young professionals working in, say, the tech and media space,” Jamestown president Michael Phillips says of the potential customer. “All the way to young families with active lifestyles, with preteen and teenage children.”

If you think the offerings sway a bit masculine, you’re right. “We thought there was a lot of womenswear represented in Little Five, Virginia-Highland, Decatur,” says Phillips. “Men’s fashion is a growing, dynamic place to be.”

For women, there’s Lily Rain, another Texas-based boutique new to Georgia, which will carry some of a Southern girl’s favorite contemporary labels, like Nanette Lepore, French Connection, and Trina Turk. Karoo, a new eyewear store from a local optician, will also set up shop, as will CorePower Yoga, a nationwide studio coming on the heels of an opening at Shops Around Lenox.

One exception to the new-to-market theme is local prep mainstay Onward Reserve, founded in Athens in 2011 and with an Atlanta location off West Paces Ferry Road. What remains to be seen is if they’ll be able to clothe intowners in pastels and needlepoint belts as readily as in Buckhead.

These new additions to the roster—which Phillips says is now “pretty complete”—will join already announced outposts of Madewell, Anthropologie, Williams-Sonoma, the Frye Company, local online retailer Oakleaf & Acorn, and more. One thing we’re most excited about: The “makers market” on the second floor, with permanent booths for local artisans and vendors, modeled in part after Jamestown’s Chelsea Market’s Artists & Fleas. It’s like a pop-up that never disappears.

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