An Atlanta-based leather goods brand has inked a lease in South Downtown. KMM & Co. has plans for a 4,500-square-foot brick-and-mortar store, slated to open at the beginning of April at 87 Peachtree Street SW, according to a recent tenant announcement from South Downtown.
Kyle Martin and Marcus Orfield told What Now Atlanta that they saw the South Downtown location as an opportunity to return to having a brick-and-mortar element in their brand — something they have been missing since shuttering their store in Ponce City Market earlier this year in favor of a solely online business model. They had operated their store there since 2020.
“We’ve always been an Atlanta company, but once we moved out of Ponce City Market, we saw ourselves becoming more of a manufacturing and e-commerce brand, which is not what we wanted,” Orfield said. “We like being front-facing and meeting the people who like our stuff. The big thing is we like making stuff in front of people and people being able to see and be part of that process. For us, it’s a return to form but also building a community around it.”
The new space will double as a production facility and retail space for KMM & Co., where the team will be able to make goods in house. Martin and Orfield were specifically drawn to South Downtown because they wanted to be part of the revitalization that has been occurring in the neighborhood. After seeing the other tenant lineup and the developer’s future plans for the neighborhood, they were attracted to the mix of restaurants and stores, all trained toward fostering community in a way that felt reminiscent of an early Ponce City Market.
“When we got connected with South Downtown and we had already seen some of the progress they had made in the area, we were really psyched about it,” Orfield said. “It was really cool to see a development company taking an interest in a community that’s been largely and strangely almost forgotten about for a while.”
In addition to selling their usual leather goods, including bags, wallets, belts and more, KMM & Co. plans to feature other products from local makers and artists in their space. They are currently looking for additional vendors. South Downtown’s announcement also indicated plans for the brand to host workshops at the new spot.
For Martin and Orfield, this new brick-and-mortar space will allow them to facilitate future growth for the brand. They plan to maintain a strong online presence, but the store will provide them with an opportunity to further broaden the brand. They hope to begin to incorporate canvas goods, and perhaps some menswear and lifestyle items, to provide products at various price points.
“[We have] an ever-expanding collection of things,” Martin said. “Right now, one of the biggest things online for us is the ability to customize things, and we’re going to have that in the shop where you can come through and pick out specific leathers for your bag and give a tactile feel to the online [elements] we have going on. And being in South Downtown right before the World Cup is really going to open us up to thousands and thousands of people. We’re hoping we’ll get a lot of new people in there and then it can be a return shopping experience whenever people come to the city.”
