Work continues on South Point Grocery, a new grocery store on South Main, but Covid has pushed the opening schedule back to early 2022, its owners said.
Castle Retail Group, parent company of Cash Saver and High Point Grocery stores, will bring a new store to South Main at 136 Webster sometime early next year. The store, to be called South Point Grocery, is sandwiched between Central Station on the west and the U.S. Postal Service facility on the east.
Work began on the store in late spring this year and, at the time, owners believed they could open the store this year. Construction labor has not been an issue on the build; crews have worked on the store even through holidays, company officials said. But Covid has disrupted supply chains, delayed the delivery of supplies and equipment, and that has pushed back the store’s opening.
“Any job of this magnitude, you come onto stumbling blocks,” said Rick James, owner and CEO of Castle Retail Group. “Covid introduced a different set of stumbling blocks and that was time factors of getting equipment and getting supplies.”
Still, James said “we’re trying like heck” to get the store open in early 2022.
The once dusty, dark space has already been transformed since April. Bright, clean light illuminates the store’s 9,000 square feet of retail space. Floors are even and clean. Sleek coolers line the walls and floor freezers outline what will be some of South Point’s aisles. The store is taking shape.
Paul Young, president and CEO of the Downtown Memphis Commission, walked the store’s floor last week and met with James and others with the company. Young said Downtowners have been talking about the need for a new grocery store since he began work in planning in 2003 and he’s sure that conversation goes back further than that.
For many Downtowners, Young said, Danny Thomas Avenue forms a sort of “soft boundary where Downtown stops.”
“[That idea] just comes from conversations with Downtowners about where they would like to see the type of amenities they want to access,” Young said. “They want to access [amenities] in the heart of Downtown and Danny Thomas feels like a soft boundary for where Downtown stops.”
Community response to South Point Grocery has been overwhelmingly positive, James said. It might also serve as a major building block to further development. He said grocery stores are anchors and they’re usually first on the list for suburban shopping-center developers establishing new sites.
“So, it’s kind of like you’ve got Downtown as its own little city and it’s never had that anchor, and we’re going to provide that,” James said. “For those Downtown residents who’ve been here a long time, it’s been a long time coming. Then, you’ve got new Downtown residents who’ve come and realized there’s no place to buy groceries. They’re excited about it, too.”
