Jackson restaurant staple closing after 83 years in business
By Crystal Tisme
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JACKSON, Mississippi (WAPT) — A Jackson restaurant staple that has been handed down for generations is closing at the end of the week.
Beatty Street Grocery has been a family business for 83 years, first selling groceries and now serving as a restaurant.
“They got it for $250 and got a piece of paper from Mr. Chase, and they started the grocery delivering in the neighborhood,” said owner Mary Harden. “I’ve always thought of Beatty Street as being one of those places that helped make it that way, kind of a warm spot for everybody to congregate and have a good time to talk.”
Harden said she plans to close the restaurant so she can officially retire, but as she’s been closing things down, memories have been flooding in. She said one of the high points was when her daughter, Skylar Laine, was on the 11th season of “American Idol,” and the show put the restaurant on the national scale.
“My daughter was blessed enough to make it to the Top 5 in ‘American Idol,’ and at the time, when we went to audition, she mentioned about having worked and helped at Beatty Street and how she would make fried baloney sandwiches. That went over really well with people in the national audience,” Harden said.
With all the ups and downs of the business, one thing is for sure: Beatty Street is loved and will be missed.
“I’ve been coming here since I was 6 or 7-years-old,” said customer Charles Campbell. “They used to have that table at lunchtime with 300 sandwiches on it. I’m talking about, they get them out in 5 minutes, man.”
Harden said after she closes up for good Friday, she’ll spend her retirement with her family, especially her grandchildren.
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