Buster’s Liquor & Wines is preparing to expand to a new location called Buster’s East, off Interstate 240 and U.S. Route 72 at 5851 Poplar Ave.
The company’s second location will move into the Ridgeway Trace Center at Poplar Avenue, replacing the former home of Staples and, most recently, a Spirits Halloween store, according to the Daily Memphian. The new 18,000-square-foot store will have space for a tasting room for assorted cheeses and gourmet food to go, as well as paying bays rather than check-out lines and rooms for tasting events. Owners Josh and Morgan Hammond hope to open this new store by November 1, 2023.
“We’ve wanted to move east for a while and thought about doing that instead of expanding, but we did the right thing,” Hammond tells the Daily Memphian. “And now this is the right thing.”
Before the duo expands east, they will expand next to its original location at 191 S. Highland St. Buster’s Butcher Shop will be moving into the former home of Subway space in the University Center shopping center. The two have enlisted Brad McCarley from Salt|Soy to help with this project, which is expected to open sometime in June 2023.
“We liked the idea, but we didn’t know anything about the meat business,” Hammond tells the Daily Memphis. “So that was the first and biggest hurdle. I made one phone call, and it was to Ryan Trimm. And he said he loved the idea and said, ‘But you don’t need me. I’m going to send you this guy’s number, and you call him.'”
