Coffee’s on again along Poplar at Perkins

Business news feature for The Commercial Appeal

December 3, 2009

Espresso and chatter are flowing once again in the cream and coffee-colored building at Poplar and Perkins.

Poplar Perk’N has opened in the space formerly occupied by High Point Coffee, which closed the store and another one on Union in Midtown in September.

“I knew the area and couldn’t understand why it had closed,” said Poplar Perk’N owner Jimmy Whidden, who received a message on Facebook from a disgruntled friend the day High Point closed.

Whidden called High Point owner Thomas Blanche, who agreed to sell his fixtures and equipment, and landlord Stan Graber, who agreed to lease him the building.

With start-up costs in hand and no debt to service, Whidden faced no major obstacles — other than repairing a leak in the roof — to open … (read more)