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Pop's Market on Grace will reopen in the coming weeks under new ownership. (Photo courtesy Josh Wright)
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Mike Lindsey and Kimberly Love-Lindsey, owners of Lillie Pearl and the fried chicken concept Buttermilk and Honey, are taking over as the new owners of Pop's Market on Grace. (Photo by Eileen Mellon)
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Original owners Josh and Patti Wright (Photo courtesy Josh Wright)
It turns out Pop’s Market on Grace, which had announced a July closing earlier in 2021 after nearly six years in business, will not shut its doors after all.
The restaurant has found new ownership in husband-and-wife duo Kimberly Love-Lindsey and Mike Lindsey, who own nearby restaurant Lillie Pearl. With Pop’s Market’s same name and menu, the couple hope to reopen the doors of 417 E. Grace St. later this month.
“We're honored to be able to carry on this tradition, and we just want to [reassure] Richmond that we're going to do it right and that they can continue coming to Pop’s,” Lindsey says, “and know they're going to get great-quality food coming out of there and hospitality as well.”
Lindsey fondly remembers picking up an order from Pop’s Market in June and co-owner Patti Wright hinting to him that she would love someone to take over the restaurant. She gave Lindsey a few Pop’s T-shirts to sleep in and suggested that he think it over.
It worked — during the first week of July, the couple agreed to take over Pop’s Market.
“We knew their lease was obviously ending in July, and so we felt like keeping the momentum going at Pop’s was important,” Love-Lindsey says. “We didn’t want it to be closed for too long, so that’s kind of why we were kind of putting a rush on getting everything worked out and signing the new lease, so that way it’s only closed for about two weeks.”
Love-Lindsey, whose go-to menu item at Pop’s Market is the towering Italian sandwich, and Lindsey, who prefers the Cuban, have been working on perfecting the recipes with Pop’s Market chef Josh Wright, Patti's son. He began cooking at Sibley’s Bar-B-Q at the age of 15 and cooked his way through college, eventually meeting his close friend and Pop’s Market bread-maker Kyle Poston. Josh and his mother opened Pop’s in 2015, hoping to bring “something that was truly good and fresh every day” to the neighborhood.
“The corner was a beautiful place,” he says, “not so much when we got in there, but by the time we were done building it out, it had really come around, so we wanted something special that was a not-so-formal sit-down spot.”
Josh, who says that he and his mother put their heart, soul and life savings into the restaurant, originally opened Pop’s Market in honor of the late “Pop,” Josh's father, and renovated the former Cokesbury bookstore building. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, the mother-and-son duo made the decision to close the restaurant due to financial constraints.
“My mom and I have worked 60 hours a week for one year,” he says, “and we haven't paid ourselves.”
But the pair never sacrificed quality during the pandemic and were pleased to find someone who loved Pop’s Market enough to want to take it into their own hands.
“I look forward to having a moment and taking some time to think about what could be next,” Josh says. “No plans yet, other than to usher in a new reign that is going to be great and a beautiful space.”
Josh is grateful to Lindsey-Love and Lindsey — who are further expanding their restaurant portfolio by opening locations of their Buttermilk and Honey fried chicken venture in GreenGate next month and in Manchester's Hatch Local food hall in October — for building off of what he started with his mother.
“They're wonderful people,” he says. “We had them in once, and there was a very great vibe between us just in talking about food. We couldn't be more grateful that they saw something that they liked that they could step into, and they love the neighborhood, and they are going to perpetuate something great here.”
Pop’s Market on Grace’s anticipated new hours will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
