In the South Main Arts District of downtown Memphis, there’s a building that served as a grocery warehouse in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. Today it’s the home of South Point Grocery, a small-format yet full-service store that has become a fixture for area residents since its opening in March 2022.
A second South Point opened last November in Southaven, Mississippi, just across the state line from Memphis. The developer of Silo Square had visited the South Point Grocery in Memphis and wanted to export the concept, according to Taylor James, president of South Point parent company Castle Retail Group.
“Our developer and landlord down there came to our downtown store and said, ‘I want this down there,’” James said.
Son of Castle Retail Group founder Rick James, Taylor James took on the role of president of Castle Retail Group this past spring. Rob Ikard, president of the Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association, calls James “a rising star in the grocery world in Tennessee.”
Grocery store built for a neighborhood
The South Point Grocery in Memphis has been an evolutionary journey in terms of what the store sells…