Alongside a growing tenant roster, new public spaces, and a forthcoming dog-park bar, the revived Buckhead Village shopping district is set to welcome a German-style holiday extravaganza for the most wunderbar time of the year.  

Village owner Jamestown announced today the budding (pre-COVID) tradition that is Atlanta’s German Christkindl Market will uproot from Centennial Olympic Park to the upscale Buckhead shopping hub this year. (Jamestown has headquarters in Atlanta and Germany, after all).

The event, as organized by the German American Cultural Foundation, will run between November 26 and January 2 at 290 East Paces Ferry Road (corner of East Paces Ferry Road and Bolling Way).

Expect more than 50 venders dishing hot chocolate, cider, and German Glühwein (aka, mulled wine), alongside traditional German eats such as pretzels, brats, and schnitzel. Shopping booths will feature wooden toys, jewelry, hardwood pipes, and other German handcrafts, including ornaments from well-known maker Käthe Wohlfahrt.

A festive Buckhead Village in years past. Courtesy of Jamestown

Live music and entertainment are scheduled for the weekends, and “complimentary fire pits” will be dotted around the Village’s new open-air Veranda all season.

This year will mark Atlanta’s fifth incarnation of the Christmas market—in three different locations.  

The Christkindl Market had grown significantly from just a dozen booths at Atlantic Station to more than 60 in 2019, the year it moved to Centennial Olympic Park, as Global Atlanta reported.

The German foundation had aimed to install 75 booths downtown last year, until plans were called off as novel coronavirus cases climbed through 2020.

The streets of Buckhead Village illuminated during the holidays. Courtesy of Jamestown

The holiday foot-traffic injection could spell more positive activity for the 300,000 square feet of retail at Buckhead Village, which Ponce City Market developers Jamestown bought two years ago and rechristened in 2020, dropping “The Shops Buckhead Atlanta” name.

By July this year, several months into COVID-19 vaccine rollouts, Jamestown reps reported that Buckhead Village sales were exceeding the same timeframe in pre-pandemic 2019.

Across the six-block property, leases have been signed with small businesses (a florist, hatmaker, and jewelry store among them) to help blend national and local concepts, as district reps have said. SPANX’s corporate headquarters has also recommitted to leasing 95,000 square feet across three floors—the bulk of Buckhead Village’s 135,000 square feet of offices.

The German Christkindl Market as staged in Centennial Olympic Park. Courtesy of Jamestown

For the holidays, Buckhead Village will deck its street in eucalyptus garlands, oversized ornaments, large floral sculptures, and sparkling lights.

Market hours will be 11:30 a.m to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. A full list of holiday happenings around the Village is here.

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