Happy budget season! It’s Monday, June 8, so get out your abacus, because the suburbs will be crunching some numbers today. Germantown, Collierville and Millington leaders will be taking final budget votes. 

The rest of the week looks to be less math-y (thankfully). Read about what’s coming in This Week in Memphis.

THE NEED TO KNOW 

Monica Pham (right) and Tommy Fan (right), owners of Viet Hoa, are opening an international shopping center in Cordova. (Courtesy of Monica Pham and Tommy Fan)

Living the dream: The owners of Midtown’s Viet Hoa market are finally fulfilling a longheld family dream to open a massive international supermarket. Monica Pham and Tommy Fan are planning to open Han Square in the former Life Church space in Cordova. The market will sell products from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Mexico and China, and there will be a food court serving Thai, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese food. Plus, there will be an adjoining Chinese restaurant with dim sum cart service. Pham’s mom, the late Kim Chung, long dreamed of opening such a market, and the name Han Square is a tribute to Fan’s father. (But no worries, Midtowners; the Viet Hoa isn’t going anywhere.)

The Blue Monkey in Midtown will close Friday, June 19. (Courtesy The Blue Monkey)

Calling it quits: Blue Monkey Midtown is closing after 27 years in business. Owner Mike Johnson said business never really recovered after the pandemic, when the business closed for seven months. Johnson said the Downtown location is “hanging in there,” thanks to a strong lunch business. And you’ve still got time for one last hot turkey po’boy in Midtown.

Elon Musk’s xAI data center is located at the former Electrolux plant at 3231 Paul R. Lowry Road in Southwest Memphis. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daly Memphian file)

What to do with AI money: About $3.3 million of property-tax money from xAI will be invested into neighborhoods located within five miles of the two data centers. And an advisory board has finalized a laundry list of where they’d like to see that money go. Among the board’s 11 priorities are a pre-weatherization program for residents, blight remediation and preventive healthcare in response to data center pollution. Concerned citizens at the board’s latest meeting had some other ideas, too.

Demolition will clear the way for Smokey City Market development. (Courtesy Community Redevelopment Agency)

On the Market: The long-closed and now blighted Gordin’s Butcher Shop on Jackson Avenue will soon be home to more than 300 residential units, senior housing, retail and green space. The shop is being demolished to make way for a new mixed-use development — to be called Smokey City Market — with a mix of houses, apartments and even a beer garden. The joint city-county Community Redevelopment Agency has been acquiring blighted properties in the neighborhood for a while, and it’s partnered with a pair of developers to bring the project to life.

QUOTED

Celine Lee (left) and Dale Watson (right) bought, restored and reopened Hernando’s Hide-A-Way. (Houston Cofield/The Daily Memphian file)

“I can’t with my conscience do AI art at all ... it’s gotten really bad for the actual artists.””

— Celine Lee, co-owner and operator of Hernando’s Hide-A-Way
Hernando’s Hide-A-Way recently posted on its social media that it would not be sharing AI art to promote music shows. They’re also offering to help bands find graphic designers when needed. In this week’s Ask the Memphian, Lee explains why her legendary venue is taking a stand against AI.

THE NICE TO KNOW

“I love this little place. It’s the perfect size, perfect location, everything,” said Daniel Pesce, owner of Pesce’s Italian Deli. (Amaya Taylor/The Daily Memphian)

Word of mouth: Pesce’s Italian Deli, a small shop tucked into East Memphis’ Forum I building, doesn’t have a flashy sign — just white vinyl lettering on the door. But somehow, business is booming. Owner Daniel Pesce relies on word of mouth, and he says customers keep coming back because his sandwiches, pizzas, authentic Italian sausage and other classics are good. “It’s my job to make them come back, and I think the food does that,” he says. Things are going so well, in fact, that Pesce is making plans to expand his menu, hours and more.

Memphis Hound Dogs quarterback Kevin Taylor (18) ran with the ball against the Iowa Woo at the Memphis Sports & Events Center on June 6. (Wes Hale/Special to the Daily Memphian)

Inside football: Minor-league football returned to the city Saturday as the new Memphis Hound Dogs won their home opener at the Memphis Sports and Event Center. The new team is part of the Arena League, which holds games inside — rather than outside in the elements. “I love inside. No heat. Awesome,” said one fan. The Daily Memphian’s Tim Buckley was there, and the fans he talked to seemed to be having a blast. Of course, it helped that the Dogs beat the Iowa Woo, 50-18.

Jaran Claybrook is the founder and CEO of Legacy Point Solutions, a Memphis-based AI company. He’s also a firefighter in the city. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian)

How not to die: “Once you’re in the back of the ambulance, … it’s almost too late,” said Memphis firefighter Jaran Claybrook. He says he’s seen far too many medical situations take a turn for the worse, so he decided to do something about it. Claybrook developed an app that uses AI to provide insight on preventive care, based on one’s eating habits. It can also tell, from a photo, you how much microplastic is in your meal (!!). Separately, he’s developed an AI tutoring app to help K-12 and college students with their studies.

Levi Lei of Germantown, Jack Feng of Memphis, Ella Liu of Collierville and Myles Martin of Germantown are part of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra program (AJ Wolfe/Courtesy Memphis Youth Symphony)

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? The answer, as the old joke goes, is practice. And four local teens know all about that. Cellist Levi Lei, violinist Jack Feng and violist Myles Martin and flutist Ella Liu are heading to New York to perform with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestras. All four students are also members of the Memphis Youth Symphony, a music-education nonprofit that gives a chance to play in both large and chamber ensembles.

Former television news anchor Richard Ransom has launched a new PR consulting firm. (Courtesy Ransom Strategy Group)

Ransom notes: Longtime, former ABC24 news anchor Richard Ransom is living in Florida these days, but he’s just launched a new public-relations firm that he says will do work in Memphis. Ransom, who spent 30 years in Memphis TV broadcasting, took a brief detour working in PR for Le Bonheur before founding his new venture: Ransom Strategy Group. Ransom says he’ll offer communications, media relations and performance coaching in collaboration with another Memphis PR firm. 

THIS WEEK’S WEATHER

Summer is still a couple weeks away, but you wouldn’t know it from these temps.

Stay cool, and remember to hydrate.

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