The latest crop of MEMShops has landed on Film Row

A couple of streets over from bustling South Main is Film Row. During Hollywood’s heyday, this South 2nd Street strip was a distribution center for all of the major movie studios. The street has been vacant for decades, but the forth iteration of MEMShop promises to activate the space. The initiative works with property owners to provide subsidized rent for small-business aspirants as well as provide ongoing consulting and marketing for the space.

The three shops between 488 and 500 S. Second Street fill a variety of needs. At the launch last week during the South Main Trolley Tour, Jason Miller opened Circuitous Succession gallery to the public and stepped over from being a nonprofit into a commercial gallery.

“MEMShop has pretty much taken this project that I’ve been working on since 2013 and introduced it to a new level, a more commercial enterprise,” Miller said.

Next door, Zac Woolfolk led patrons through his high-end men’s clothing and lifestyle store, Oxn. Pamela and Maurice Hill shared their Makeda’s Butter Cookies in their business’ new second home. The couple will now be able to access markets previously untapped at their Airways Blvd. location.

The hustle and bustle of trolley night is just a part of the overall vision for Film Row and its encompassing Heritage Trail district.

“Retail is an important part of any project for its ability to serve and sort of activate the spaces,” said Abby Miller, Project Manager with Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team. Film Row is part of a major effort to redevelop the Heritage Trail, a stretch being primed for improvement by the City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development and several other community players.

This MEMshop is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and match funds from the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team.

“With this particular grant, the retail is a pre-vitalization or activation component to bring that economic development component to the project and allow for greater possession and foot traffic to really draw interest,” Miller added.

Miller said that her team received applications from 50 entrepreneurs, which is more than ever before. “We’re really excited to see that the momentum around this effort is really growing and that entrepreneurial interest is sort of having a snowball effect,” she said.