Courtesy of Jeffrey
Illustration by Graham Smith
Legendary retailer Jeffrey Kalinsky recently announced he would open a second iteration of his designer fashion and accessories boutique, Jeffrey, which closed in 2020. When I was a teenager growing up in the suburbs, Jeffrey, which debuted at Phipps Plaza in 1992, was formative in shaping both my interest in fashion and my future career; it was the place to get the cool stuff. I can still remember the thrill of unboxing the Miu Miu pumps I bought there and how I wore them to my interview for Cosmopolitan, where I became a fashion editor.
Jeffrey was central to my experience, but it wasn’t the only retailer elevating Atlanta to its moniker of “the shopping capital of the South” over the past 65 years.
Downtown was the epicenter of retail until the mid-20th century, but most of Atlanta’s shopping has been centralized around our malls since Lenox Square opened in 1961 (first anchored by department stores Rich’s and Davidson’s). Greenbriar Mall followed in 1965, Phipps Plaza in 1969, and Perimeter Mall in 1971; then came a proliferation of suburban malls. Lenox Square became the Southeast’s largest mall in 1995. It attracts more than 35 million shoppers annually, according to its owner, retail real-estate company Simon.
From the ’70s until the early aughts, the malls were a mix of department stores and locally owned boutiques, such as Barbara Sue Klein Weiss’s Snooty Hooty and Isaacson’s, which shuttered in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Fashion retail was vital to Atlanta’s social and business scenes. Amanda Brown-Olmstead was the first public relations director for Saks when it opened in Atlanta in 1968. She hosted trunk shows with designers like Oscar de la Renta and Halston and produced two to three fashion shows a week in the ’70s and ’80s, catering to the women who accompanied their husbands on business trips, Atlanta society women, and seasonal shoppers.
Photograph by AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Carolyn Mckenzie
Photograph by Carol M. Highsmith Archive/Library of Congress
One of the most impactful events was Fashionata, conceived by Sol Kent, Rich’s influential fashion director from 1948 until 1991. (Kent dressed Coretta Scott King for her husband’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.) A charitable component was added in 1971 to benefit various Atlanta institutions, and the fashion show regularly sold out multiple nights at the Fox Theatre. The Fashionata was a precursor to Jeffrey Fashion Cares, Kalinsky’s charity fashion show at Phipps that ran for almost 30 years.
In recent years, retail has become streamlined with department-store consolidation and some boutiques shuttering. The rise of online shopping and global sourcing has significantly altered brand and consumer behavior, and the Covid-19 pandemic further evolved retail globally, from style habits to supply chains, according to Heather Price-Manso Anderson, a clinical associate professor for the Georgia Soft Goods Education Foundation at UGA.
When it comes to deciding on new store locations, brand representatives I’ve interviewed in recent years confirm customer data drives retail decisions. Still, Kalinsky believes that relationships matter. It’s something local, post-Jeffrey boutiques like Antidote, Factor’s, and Don Purcell have capitalized on. This is a town built on personal connections, and Kalinsky is banking on them in his new location, opening August 2 at Buckhead Village District.
Kalinsky says that the level of service, such as a large styling lounge and attention to detail, are his differentiators at Jeffrey, whether catering to three generations in one client family or to the new relationships he hopes to make.
“We have been successful because of how we treat our clients,” he says.
More on Atlanta fashion
Photograph by Getty Images
“I started both my businesses, Spanx and Sneex, to advocate for women through product. From humble beginnings in my small Virginia-Highland apartment to a headquarters in Buckhead, it’s been amazing to see Atlanta flourish during my 25-plus years of working in fashion and retail. It’s a city that fosters entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and I’m especially proud to see that women-owned businesses are on the rise, proving that in Atlanta, you can start small and dream big.” – Spanx founder and inventor Sara Blakely
Back to 65 Years of Atlanta Magazine
This article appears in our May 2026 issue.
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