Janice "Abbadabba" Abernethy and the beginnings of Abbadabba's

Our history, year by year

1. 1981

   A craft shop, a flea market, then Little Five Points

   Abbadabba's was started by Janice Abernethy (it's her high school nickname) while husband-to-be Bill Carmichael was finishing up school at Emory. Her tiny little crafts shop near Emory's law school expanded into a booth at the Atlanta Flea Market, which was unfortunately displaced by MARTA's rail station on Piedmont Road. After trying other flea markets, in 1981 Janice opened her first "real" store in Little 5 Points, an eclectic neighborhood known for its blend of Berkeley, Greenwich Village, Coconut Grove and Tara influences.

   

2. 1986

   Shoes take over

   The Little 5 Points store was a flea market in itself: toys, cards, gifts, jewelry, and some funny-looking shoes in the back. In 1986, Bill left a career at Georgia-Pacific to join Janice full time, and the decision was made to focus on footwear. Within a year, shoes accounted for most of our sales. As Little 5 and its surrounding neighborhoods were rebirthed by urban pioneers in the early eighties, the business, and our reputation for shoes that made sense, grew.

   

3. 1990

   Could we take a slice of L5P to the big city?

   Buoyed by metro-wide customer enthusiasm, the Buckhead store was opened in 1990. "Could we take a slice of L5P to the 'big city' and survive?" Well, we did. The Buckhead store's checkerboard parking lot did raise a few highbrows in Atlanta's toddy district, but we also made a lot of new friends, and converted many a high heel to comfort footbed!

   

4. 1994

   Into the suburbs

   In 1994, responding to customer feedback, Abbadabba's ventured into the suburbs with a new store in Roswell. The positive reception validated the expansion, leading to the opening of a fourth store in Gwinnett in 1996, situated with a view of the Gwinnett Place Mall. The continued support from suburban customers reaffirmed the company's growth strategy.

   

5. 1998

   Georgia's first Birkenstock specialty store

   In spring of 1998, we transformed half of our Buckhead store into Georgia's first Birkenstock Specialty Store, and achieved Specialty Store status at our other locations. This distinction allowed us many advantages over other Birkenstock dealers. We continue our ongoing commitment to provide the best customer service and a broad selection of product.

6. 2003

   Kennesaw

   In 2003, Abbadabba's expanded further into Kennesaw, opening a store near Town Center Mall. Despite its smaller size compared to other locations, the Kennesaw store maintained the high standards of footwear and service.

7. 2005

   Little Five Points, doubled

   In 2005, our dream of expanding Little 5 Points finally came true. We doubled our size upstairs and undertook an extensive upgrading of our interior. So far, you have seemed to like it… we are serving more customers there than ever before.

   

8. 2007

   Buckhead moves north

   In 2007, our Buckhead store was sold out from under us to make way for what was supposed to be Ben Carter's billion-dollar rebuild of Buckhead Village. We moved a few miles north next to the Fresh Market at Wieuca and Roswell Road, and built out the new Buckhead store with a spiffy new design. We hoped to keep all of our existing friends and add some new ones, and the response has been super. "New" Buckhead has become a co-flagship store for us, and we are so grateful for our loyal customers who made the journey with us!

9. 2012

   East Cobb

   Our next big project focused on Roswell. After 18 years on the east side of Roswell, we were compelled to move by a new landlord and started a search for a new location. Working with Muntzing-Satelle, our Kennesaw store landlord, we found a wonderful space on the west side of Roswell in East Cobb, near Merchants Walk. We built out our largest, and we believe most beautiful, location yet and opened in March of 2012. The reception by the folks in and around East Cobb has been awesome.

10. Today

    Still the same mission

    As we continue into the future, Abbadabba's remains committed to our mission of being Atlanta's premier source for innovative, healthful footwear. We continue our story by reinventing ourselves several times a year, pursuing our passion for innovative comfort footwear, and listening to the directions our customers want us to go. It is an honor and a privilege we hope we earn every day.