MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A new Chick-fil-A restaurant is reportedly coming to Summer Avenue.
Jim Hamilton, owner of Hamilton’s Fireplace, Grills and Casual Furniture on Summer Avenue, can’t wait to spread the word about Chick-fil-A coming to the area.
“Isn’t it great that Chick Fil A is gonna make it to Summer Avenue? Finally,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton says he’s been pitching the idea for Chick-fil-A to locate on Summer Avenue for about four years.
The site for the popular fast food restaurant is the lot where Grimes Memorial Methodist Church once stood.
According to Hamilton, the location, just east of North Perkins, is more than large enough to meet Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru demands.
“Because they have the widest footprint, and Chick-fil-A cannot operate on a footprint like McDonald’s or any of these other ones,” Hamilton said. “They have to have it where they’re moving people through.”
He says the number of businesses along Summer Avenue has soared in the last ten years with a broad and diverse brand of restaurants.
“There’s just so many different ones. It’s just that Chick-fil-A is such a high volume and people will drive five miles to come to Chick-fil-A,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton says thousands of cars a day pass down that section of Summer Avenue, right by the future of home of Chick-fil-A. He says it’s another business creating more jobs for Memphians.
“And you know, being here in the city, that the more jobs that we can get, the better off we all are,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton, like every other business owner, is navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and hoping thing get back to normal soon.
For now, he’s looking forward to what the new Chick-fil-A will mean to this part of Memphis and what spin off dollars it can generate.
“We’ve needed this now for at least five years,” Hamilton said. “We should have had Chick-fil-A here five years ago.”
