Swoozie’s is closing its gifts and decor store in The Markets at Town Center as part of the chain’s closure of 10 stores in seven states.
The store is at 4866 Big Island Drive, Suite 8. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The store is next to J. Crew Factory in the strip of stores between Ulta Beauty and Nordstrom Rack.
An employee did not have a date for the store closing.
Atlanta-based Fortis Business Advisors, which provides liquidation services, posted on social media that all merchandise is 50% to 70% off.
Fixtures, furniture and equipment also are for sale at a posted price. Most of the tables and shelving were marked as sold Jan. 2.
Swoozie’s sells stationery, party supplies, home and birthday decor, books, calendars, invitations, gifts, infant gifts, greeting cards, wrapping paper and seasonal items.
The 10 stores comprise one each in Alabama, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas and two each in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
The Florida stores are in Jacksonville and Palm Beach Gardens.
It is the second times Swoozie’s closed in Jacksonville’s Town Center area.
It closed in St. Johns Town Center in 2010 and opened in The Markets at Town Center in late 2015.
Retail executives David Dworkin and his wife, Kelly Plank-Dworkin, founded Swoozie’s in 2001 in Atlanta.
The Tomorrow’s News Today – Atlanta site, tonetoatlanta.net, reported Nov. 23, 2024, that Swoozie’s has been through bankruptcy and multiple owners in its nearly 25 year history, but will cease to exist as a brick-and-mortar business by the end of the year.
The Tomorrow’s News site said Dworkin died suddenly at age 63 in 2007. Under his leadership, Swoozie’s had expanded to 21 stores.
The site said Plank-Dworkin expanded the company to a peak of 43 stores in 15 states, but the rapid expansion and challenging economy forced the company to file for bankruptcy in March 2010.
That’s when it closed in St. Johns Town Center.
The Florida Times-Union reported in April 2010 that Swoozie’s was going out of business and closing all 43 of its retail stores.
Denver-based Gart Capital Partners, an investor in closely held and family-owned retail businesses, invested in Swoozie’s in 2010 and announced plans to reopen seven stores and a new one in Denver.
In 2013, Gart merged Swoozie’s and Beau-coup, a California-based premium online retailer of party favors, supplies, decorations and special occasion gifts. The combined company maintained the brand names of Swoozie’s and Beau-coup.
The Tomorrow’s News site said that in early March 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gart sold Swoozie’s to Memphis-based Beyond Brands Group, the company behind Southern Living Magazine’s Southern Living stores.
At the time of the merger, Swoozie’s had 10 stores and Southern Living had five.
The Tomorrow’s News site reported that signage at the Chastain Park store in the Atlanta area reads in part:
“Unfortunately, we have received news that our ownership, which is Beyond Brands, will be closing all divisions which include both Swoozie’s and the Southern Living Store. While we do not know an exact timeline on what this looks like, what we DO KNOW is that every effort will be made to ensure that is not the last chapter for Swoozie’s.”