Ashley Purrington led the charge of women in to the Filenes Bridal sale in Buckhead last year.

After smash-and-grab burglars hit the Buckhead Filene’s Basement for a second time in weeks Thursday, Buzz rang company reps to see how the retailer planned to amp up security before next week’s seventh annual Running of the Brides mayhem.

“In light of what occurred again early this morning in our Atlanta store, we have had additional conversations about that today,” Filene’s Basement spokeswoman Patricia Boudrot told us Thursday. “But we always hire an extensive security detail and an Atlanta detective is assigned every year. It’s just beyond me how this keeps happening on one of the most-high profile, high-end street corners in Atlanta. None of our other stores are encountering anything like this.”

Boudrot also joked about the store’s potential best security device next week: ‘Do you really think those brides are going let a robber anywhere near those dresses?!”

She has a point. Hundreds of anxious brides and their best girlfriends routinely camp out all night in front of the high-profile Peachtree Road store prior to the deep discount sale, this year set to start March 20 at 8 a.m.

Boudrot says due to the economy, Filene’s customers are even more fanatical about this year’s sale which routinely offers designer gowns originally fetching between $900 and $10,000 on sale for $249 to $699.

Hence, the running.

Says Boudrot: “We first started noticing the bigger lines last summer but now it’s even bigger. Brides are looking for bargains more than ever in this economy. The Running of the Brides has become a bonding ritual for women. It’s really one of the most emotional purchases women make.”

Atlanta couple trying to avoid ‘The Chopping Block’

Sure, TV already has “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Top Chef.” NBC stuck its fork into this genre with “The Chopping Block” this week featuring yet another brutish British host (Marco Pierre White) — plus two Atlanta contestants.
Michael Holmes ( at right, with fiance), executive chef at Parkside Café & Deli not far from Lenox Mall, tells Buzz he was scanning Craig’s List for jobs last year and saw a new show called “The Chopping Block” seeking couples, one who can run a restaurant and one who can cook.
He happened to be engaged to Panya Rice, who works the front of the house at Maggiano’s at Perimeter Mall. “This was meant to be,” he said.
The winners get $250,000 to open their own restaurant, a dream the Atlanta couple has had for years.
Pierre White comes across as a more humane version of Gordon Ramsay and a penchant for simple, yet flavorful food. “We were definitely initimidated by him at first,” Rice said. “But once we started to work with him, we realized he is very down to earth.”
In the first episode, the pair didn’t raise the ire of Pierre White. Plus, their team won the challenges, so they weren’t up for elimination.
“I came across as the calm, mature guy,” Holmes said.
“I might have come off as the hot head,” Rice said.

Overscene

Kandi Burruss, the newest cast member of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” at Aja in Buckhead. The former Xscape pop star was dining with TLC’s T-Boz. The pair shared a shrimp roll, lettuce wraps, and hot chili seafood.

TNT NBA analyst Charles Barkley (right), back at work in Atlanta after serving 36 hours in Arizona for a DUI conviction. Barkley was spotted checking out the brand-new 11,000-square-foot Dantanna’s Atlanta location at CNN Center downtown. The NBA legend was enjoying a mozzarella & finnochiona sandwich and a Diet Coke.

Celebrity Birthdays

Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka is 70. Actor William H. Macy is 59. Bassist Adam Clayton of U2 is 49. Jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard is 47. Rapper Common is 37. Actor Danny Masterson (”That ’70s Show”) is 33.

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