southern meat market – Memphis Flyer

It’s the end of an era for the eastern side of the Highland Strip. The building that once housed Whatever, the Super Submarine Sandwich Shop, and the Southern Meat Market was leveled last week.

Shara Clark

After some resistance from the surrounding community in 2013 when the proposal was initially filed, McDonald’s, which is currently located at 657 S. Highland, will be relocated to the corner of Southern and Highland, right across the street. Initially, the issue surrounded how the fast-food restaurant would fit within the local neighborhood aesthetic and comply with the University District Overlay.

Since then, the issues were addressed, and the fast-food conglomerate was approved for its design a year ago last August: a wrap around drive-thru was scrapped for a double drive-thru in the back of the store, and the building is far closer to the sidewalk than originally planned.

The property was sold in March for $580,000, according to the Memphis Business Journal.

Gary Geiser, the owner of Whatever, said if the property had been up for sale, they would have purchased it.

“If we had even been notified that they were interested in selling it the property, we would’ve tried to buy it for sure,” he said. “But we weren’t notified.”

Penelope Huston

The property, which now belongs to McDonald’s, has caused the collection of locally owned businesses previously located there to scatter. The corporation plans on the restaurant being completed by 2016. The current McDonald’s will be leveled and sold as property.

“I think [the new McDonald’s] is a really bad idea,” Geiser said. “I think it’s in a bad position. The train is always there. It’ll give them good exposure, but getting in and out of there will be a real bear.”

Originally, Whatever occupied a small corner of the building and expanded further into the property. They were forced to move to a space across the street at 555 S. Highland.

“We had a good run there,” he said. “It was an interesting corner. We were across the tracks from the rest of the Highland Strip.”

Since moving, however, sales have been up for Whatever. A second location opened on Madison Avenue, near Overton Square, and a third location in Cordova is opening in the coming weeks.

The Super Submarine Sub Shop moved to 3316 Summer Ave. The Southern Meat Market, after 114 years at the Highland location, moved to 3826 Park Ave.

After University District residents delivered a stern message of “not lovin’ it” to McDonald’s regarding the fast-food chain’s plans to build a restaurant at Southern and Highland, they seem to have pulled their plans to purchase that property.

Now, a man who told the Flyer he simply goes by Mr. Z and owns the Highland Z Market and other convenience stores around the city, is attempting to purchase the property at Southern and Highland. And he says, if the deal closes, the building’s current tenants will be allowed to stay.

“It’s going to be remodeled, and if someone wants to stay, they can stay,” Mr. Z said.

Whatever smoke shop owner Gary Geiser says he plans to stay in the building where his store has been since 1971. He even held a celebration sale last week, but he says he won’t know for certain if he can stay until Mr. Z closes on the property.

“The problem is we don’t know what is going to happen with this,” Geiser said.

Southern Meat Market owner Randy Stockard isn’t so sure he’ll stick around no matter what happens with the building. Both men have been renting other storefronts for months just in case they have to move, and Stockard is considering moving to a new location on Park Avenue near Pete & Sam’s, where he’s been paying rent since January.

“I’m already paying rent on Park, but it would take me another month or two to get out of here. I started thinking about staying, but I don’t know. I’d probably do better on Park because of visibility,” Stockard said.

Geiser has a back-up plan too. He’s been paying $3,000 a month in rent for a location at 555-557 S. Highland, the old Double Deuce Dance Hall, since November 2012.

“We first heard about [McDonald’s trying to purchase the building] in September 2012, and we heard we only had two months to move. So like idiots, we rented space on the Highland strip,” Geiser said.

Geiser said, if they are allowed to stay put, they’ll turn the space on the Highland strip into office/warehouse space and another retail store of some kind. He said they’re also planning to open another smoke shop in town soon.

After hearing of the McDonald’s plan, the owners of the Super Submarine Sandwich Shop (better known as the “Chinese sub shop”), which was located next door to Whatever, quickly relocated into an old Captain D’s on Summer Avenue. Safeway Wholesale and Supply relocated a block away. Now their former locations are boarded up.

“I wish the sub shop lady hadn’t left,” Geiser said.

Business owners said they first learned of the potential McDonald’s sale in 2012 through rumors, and only after numerous calls to their property manager, Palmer Brothers Inc., did they learn they’d have to move. It sounded like a done deal.

But after University District residents petitioned against McDonald’s plans for a loop-around drive-thru that didn’t comply with the University District Overlay, an official set of standards that regulates all construction in the area, and the Office of Planning and Development rejected the site plan, McDonald’s withdrew its request for approval by the Land Use Control Board.

Calls to Palmer Brothers for comment were not returned by press time.