Belk is closing its department store at The Forum on Peachtree Parkway, ending a 25-year run at the Gwinnett County shopping center. The retailer's location at 5165 Peachtree Pkwy is set to shut its doors by January 15, 2027, with merchandise discounts of up to 75% already underway as the store winds down.
According to Atlanta News First, Belk said the decision came after a careful review of its business, and employees at the Peachtree Corners store will have the option to transfer to other Belk locations. The station's report notes the closure adds Peachtree Corners to a growing list of Metro Atlanta Belk locations that have shut down in recent years, including the chain's Town Center at Cobb store, which closed in February 2025.
The Forum itself opened in 2002 as a 500,000-square-foot open-air lifestyle center developed by Thomas Enterprises, with Belk and Barnes & Noble serving as its original anchor tenants, according to The Forum Peachtree Corners. Lifestyle centers like The Forum were designed to mimic open-air pedestrian downtowns rather than traditional enclosed malls, a format that defined suburban retail development in the early 2000s.
A $13 Million Bet on Life After Department Stores
The property is now undergoing a $13 million facelift, with developers hoping to add more shops, green spaces, a food hall, multi-family housing, and a boutique hotel, per the same Atlanta News First account. That redevelopment push is now led by global real estate investment firm Jamestown, which acquired the Atlanta subsidiary of North American Properties in October 2024 and took over direct management of The Forum, as reported by Business Wire. North American Properties had originally partnered with Nuveen Real Estate to buy The Forum back in March 2022.
Phase I of that redevelopment already delivered results. The Forum unveiled “The Plaza” in August 2024, a 6,650-square-foot outdoor community space built with a performance stage and a 16-foot LED video wall designed to host more than 100 annual events, according to Planar. The addition reflects Jamestown's broader shift toward experiential retail, dining, and public programming rather than leaning on traditional department store anchors.
A Long Retreat Across Metro Atlanta
Belk's exit from Peachtree Corners fits a pattern stretching back more than a decade. The chain closed its Gwinnett Place Mall store in Duluth in 2013 and shuttered its Phipps Plaza flagship in Buckhead in 2018, a space later replaced by a Nobu Hotel and restaurant, according to ToNeTo Atlanta.
Much of that footprint traces back to 2006, when Belk expanded rapidly across Metro Atlanta by acquiring Birmingham-based chain Parisian from Saks Inc., converting high-profile locations at Phipps Plaza, Town Center at Cobb, and Gwinnett Place into Belk stores. ToNeTo Atlanta reports those legacy Parisian-turned-Belk locations have since been shuttered one by one over the following two decades.
The retailer's broader financial trajectory also shaped these closures. Sycamore Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, acquired the Charlotte-based, family-owned Belk chain in 2015 in a buyout valued at roughly $3 billion, according to Retail Dive. Belk later filed for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in February 2021, emerging within a single day after cutting roughly $450 million in debt while Sycamore retained majority ownership.
Peachtree Corners' Own Competing Town Center
Local dynamics have also played a role in The Forum's evolution. The City of Peachtree Corners purchased 21 acres across Peachtree Parkway in 2013 to build its own municipal Town Center, which opened in 2019 and briefly drew foot traffic away from The Forum, according to The Forum Peachtree Corners. Municipal leaders reportedly sought new redevelopment partners for the aging shopping center after it began to feel stale.
Peachtree Corners itself incorporated on July 1, 2012, becoming Gwinnett County's 16th and largest city, with a population that topped 42,000 as of the 2020 U.S. Census, per the City of Peachtree Corners. The city's rapid growth and push for walkable, mixed-use development underscore why The Forum's owners are betting on housing and hospitality rather than another department store anchor.
Belk's departure also lands amid a broader retrenchment of brick-and-mortar retail across the region. National chains like Joann Fabrics closed seven regional Atlanta-area locations in February 2025 following its own Chapter 11 proceedings, according to WhatNow Atlanta. For now, shoppers at The Forum can still take advantage of discounts as low as 75% off before Belk's doors close for good by mid-January 2027.
