MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Makeda’s Homemade Cookies, the South Memphis store where Memphis rapper Young Dolph was gunned down last November, will reopen at 9 a.m. Saturday, the owners confirmed.
Owners Maurice and Pamela Hill look at the reopening of their shop as a triumph but they say it wasn’t an easy decision.
Ultimately, they decided they owed it not only to the community, but to Young Dolph, who was one of their most loyal customers.
“We’ve always been shown a lot of love from Memphis,” Pamela Hill said. “We’ve been here for 23 years, so Memphis has kept us in business for 23 years. So we just love Memphis.”
Makeda’s closed its location at 2370 Airways Boulevard after the shooting, and owners previously said they would not reopen due to threats. That location opened in 1999.
Young Dolph, whose real name was Adolph Thornton Jr. was a regular at the bakery, and in the months following his shooting, fans and community members turned the location into a memorial site.
“Fans were coming from all over the world, believe it or not. and just leaving teddy bears and souvenirs just to show their respect. So it was practically covered, you couldn’t see the building,” Maurice Hill said.
The couple has kept busy over the last 10 months at their downtown location — but they say it’s important to them to keep Young Dolph’s memory alive at this store, to honor him and to make a statement.
“We need to stand strong and let the criminals know they can’t just run us off. And we just want to be here. We really want to be here for the customers,” the owners said.
A memorial for Young Dolph will be set up inside the store when they reopen their doors Saturday morning at 9.