Johnsons, a gentleman’s speakeasy-meets-Go-Go-bar, will be heading to the Ansley Square Shopping Center.
It will replace the 8,400-square-foot Domestic Comfort Furniture and Design store which closed last year, at 1512 Piedmont Ave NE.
Owner Matt Colunga, former general manager and DJ at Swinging Richards, and operator of two other Johnsons outposts in Fort Lauderdale and Dallas is hoping for a late-April, early-May 2020 opening, once all permitting and licensing hurdles are cleared with the City.
In the meantime, Colunga is heading off any anticipated zoning issues at the pass, starting with hiring a valet company for venue parking and addressing any concerns about permitted usage.
For example, while Johnsons shares the same name as its Florida and Texas counterparts, the concept for the Ansley Square location differs, according to Colunga.
“We are not a strip club and we are not full nudity,” Colunga shared with What Now Atlanta over the phone Monday.
“Male Go-Go dancers are the main attraction and they’re all drop-dead gorgeous.”
Johnsons should open in spring 2020 around the same time as Richard’s Variety Store, which recently announced it will be replacing the recently shuttered Pier 1, in the neighboring Ansley Mall.
