Belk store sign on the exterior of a shopping center building partially framed by trees. — Belk’s Peachtree Parkway store will close in January 2027, leaving one of The Forum’s original anchor spaces vacant.

One of the original anchors at The Forum Peachtree Corners is leaving just as the shopping center enters a very different chapter.

Belk will close its Peachtree Parkway department store on Jan. 15, 2027, ending a run that began when The Forum opened in 2002. The retailer said the decision followed a review of its business and is allowing employees to seek transfers to other locations.

A closing sale is already underway, with discounts of up to 75% on merchandise other than fine jewelry.

The departure leaves a bigger question for Peachtree Corners: what happens to one of The Forum’s largest spaces as the property moves away from its original shopping-center model?

An original anchor leaves

Belk was part of The Forum from the beginning.

The 500,000-square-foot open-air center was developed in the early 2000s as one of Gwinnett County’s early lifestyle centers, designed around a walkable, village-like collection of shops and restaurants rather than an enclosed mall.

Belk and Barnes & Noble were among the founding tenants, along with Pottery Barn, Gap, Old Navy, Talbots and Victoria’s Secret.

The Belk store occupies about 66,000 square feet at the south end of the property, making its departure considerably different from the loss of a typical storefront.

Belk has not announced a replacement for the store.

The Forum is already changing

The closing comes in the middle of a broader reinvention of The Forum.

The property’s redevelopment began after North American Properties and Nuveen Real Estate acquired it in 2022. The first phase added public gathering areas, landscaping and new retail and restaurant space, with the initial construction completed in August 2024.

The long-term plan goes further. The Forum’s redevelopment plan calls for transforming the property into a mixed-use destination rather than keeping it primarily a shopping center. Future phases include multifamily housing and a boutique hotel. Earlier plans envisioned 381 apartments and a 125-room hotel.

A large department-store box can be difficult to refill with another traditional retailer, but it also creates room for a more substantial redevelopment. There has been no announcement that the Belk building will be demolished, converted or replaced with another use, and the property’s owners have not publicly identified what will follow the store.

Another longtime tenant is changing, too

Belk is not the only original anchor being reshaped.

Barnes & Noble is moving from its longtime location into a smaller store within The Forum. That move reflects a broader shift already visible across the property: less dependence on oversized retail spaces and more emphasis on restaurants, experiences, gathering places and eventually housing and hospitality.

The Forum today sits across Peachtree Parkway from Peachtree Corners Town Center, with the two destinations connected by the pedestrian bridge over the highway. That has effectively created a larger walkable center for a suburban city that did not exist when The Forum first opened.

Belk’s departure therefore arrives at an unusual moment. Twenty-five years ago, a department store helped anchor a new kind of suburban shopping center in Peachtree Corners. In 2027, the space it leaves behind could help determine what that center becomes next.