When the owner of Challenges Games and Comics was informed he had to vacate his space at Northlake Mall in 30 days, he was frantic.
In his three decades of operating the business, Tony Cade had never been given a turnaround this tight. The mall’s owners had sold the property to the Centurion Foundation, which manages real estate and development for universities and hospitals. Emory Healthcare will now lease the property.
Remaining tenants were given little notice to find new spaces. But Cade’s customers stepped up.
They created a GoFundMe to help with moving-related expenses that eventually amassed about $9,000. A dozen showed up on Challenges’ final day of operation to help pack up the remaining merchandise.
Now, Challenges has a new home, one just across the highway: Northlake Festival in Tucker. It will eventually occupy two storefronts at the retail center: one that will house merchandise, and another space for events and tournaments. The store celebrated its soft opening Aug. 15 with the release of a new Magic: The Gathering card set, an event so popular that Cade had to turn people away at the door.
But work still needs to be done.
The spot housing the event space, which previously housed a cigar shop before sitting vacant for more than a year, needs to be inspected before Georgia Power can connect service and also needs to be painted and aired out to remove the stench of tobacco. Furniture and additional merchandise still needs to be moved in. Cade wants to order a real sign to replace a banner that stands above the shop’s entrance.
Customers have been stopping by the new space over the past week to see how Cade is doing and to see if he needs anything to make the transition easier, whether it’s extra hands to schlep boxes from his Toyota Tacoma or hang art on the walls.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“They’re always asking us, ‘What about your gaming spaces?’” Cade said. “Like, yeah, we’ve got it coming. It’s taking a while.”
The new space ensures a future for Challenges, which has grown to become a community-gathering space for comic book, games and pop culture fiends across Atlanta. Both leases have five-year terms, an upgrade from his previous month-to-month leases at Northlake Mall.
But it comes with higher costs. Challenges’ new footprint is smaller than the storefront it occupied at Northlake Mall, and Cade said he is paying much more rent for half the space.
Challenges is facing the same pressures as other independent brick-and-mortar businesses across the country: rising rents in a competitive retail landscape that doesn’t always favor small businesses.
The number of comic book stores and public spaces for tabletop gaming have fluctuated across Georgia over the years. Sales within the comic book industry have been on a steady incline over the last decade, and so has interest in tabletop games like Magic. Hasbro, the parent company of Magic publisher Wizards of the Coast, reported segment revenue grew by 27% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026, primarily powered by Magic.
But the dominance of e-commerce and rising retail rents present challenges for independent spaces.
Rents have been on the incline in Atlanta in recent years, partly because of the decline in available space. In 2025, the square footage of new retail real estate built in metro Atlanta was down 33% from the year before, according to a year-end report from Partners Real Estate. The construction pipeline also thinned, dipping in the fourth quarter to its lowest level since the first quarter of 2010.
In July, longtime Athens comic book shop Bizarro-Wuxtry announced it was closing. An undisclosed buyer purchased its longtime building and was looking to renovate the upstairs space where Bizarro operated, according to Athens weekly Flagpole. But East Atlanta Comics expanded its footprint earlier this year by opening a dedicated gaming space called Dice City, and so did Tucker comic shop Infinite Realities with a retro arcade concept.
John McCurdy, a longtime gaming fan and Challenges customer, has seen the landscape change over time. It was during the course of Cade’s move that the importance of supporting “third spaces” like Challenges dawned on him. Otherwise, he and other enthusiasts don’t have a place to play and form a community.
“I can say with some confidence that none of these local game stores, none of these owners are laughing all the way to the bank, getting huge margins on their product,” McCurdy said. “They are scraping by because rent continues to go up, and the price of product to stock the store continues to go up.”
Trading spaces
Northlake Festival is the third location Challenges has occupied in five years. It’s the first time in a decade it hasn’t been inside of a mall, and the first time in its 30 years he’s had to downsize.
Before Northlake Mall, Challenges operated at North DeKalb Mall, but was given notice he had to relocate when the dying retail center was sold to a firm looking to transform the property. He had a 90-day window to leave, triple the amount of time he was initially given to leave Northlake Mall, and knew in advance that the property was going to change.
Cade liked renting space in malls. They are typically surrounded by a sea of parking and have 24-hour security, which is especially valuable for stores selling collectible items.
But the number of malls still operating in metro Atlanta has continued to decline over the years, as e-commerce has challenged brick-and-mortar retail operations. After word got out about Northlake Mall’s sale, Cade was contacted by owners of The Gallery at South DeKalb — formerly South DeKalb Mall — about potentially opening a space, but Cade politely declined.
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
“After having two malls sold from up under me and having to leave, I was like, ‘Nah, I think I’ll pass this time,’” Cade said. “They fool me once, fool me twice, fool me three times.”
Cade negotiated with Northlake Mall’s management team to stay an extra 30 days after learning that a neighboring food stall was given extra time because they handled food.
“I told (the management team) that if I had to try to move within 30 days, you guys would basically be putting me out of business, after being in business for 30 years,” Cade said.
In finding a new location, Cade wanted to stay inside of I-285 to be available to customers who have grown accustomed to the old locations. A store as diverse as his — with comics, toys and statues, anime model kits, art supplies and other collectibles for sale, along with spaces for tabletop gaming — doesn’t exist inside the perimeter, he said.
Challenges is trying to get back into the rhythm of its daily operations. Customers have been coming in for card and board games, as well as a gathering of crocheters. Cade has sponsored a book launch event and is looking for other ways to make connections with other tenants in the shopping center.
Cade sees a world where Challenges can expand to other empty spaces in the retail center, but first it needs to stabilize. The move put him in the red, and he’s still trying to figure out ways to offset the increase in rent. He’s hoping hosting more events and increased activity across social media will help drive further sales. His customers have other suggestions, such as introducing a flat table fee to access the gaming space.
“It’s all about community,” Cade said. “People get to meet new people. If there’s a game that exists and you want to play it and see if it’s good, or if you’re into Star Wars and Star Trek, a community like this gives you a place in person to meet other fans.”
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