Doc’s Wine, Spirits & More is closing in Germantown, either at the end of this month or in early November. 

General Manager Matthew Engle, a five-year employee, said the store’s location had a lot to do with the decision to close.

Doc’s has been at 6645 Poplar Ave. for eight years, opening in 2015 in Carrefour at Kirby Woods. But a new mixed-use project, called The Standard Germantown, has been under construction since last year and, according to Engle, the ongoing development work has impacted Doc’s customer base. 

“The business started to decrease, and then foot traffic decreased by another 30%,” Engle said. 

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Doc’s was originally supposed to move into a space within the new development.

“With just how long it’s going to take, there’s no way for us to hold out that long,” Engle said.

The original timeline for the new development was one to two years, but Engle said the timeline kept getting pushed back. He predicted the total project time would be five to six years.

Mike Fahy, a consultant for CRE Devco Germantown, the company developing The Standard, believes the full build-out could take between four and five years. However, the company must honor the property’s existing leases.

Engle said that by the time the project is finished, Doc’s customer base would be gone. 

And Doc’s will not be moving to another location after it runs out of its current inventory, which Engle estimates will be in about a month, due to laws about where liquor stores can be located. 

“You can’t be too close to a school, a government building and other liquor stores, or a church,” Engle said. “A rule says where you can and can’t put one. We looked at a couple of locations, but they weren’t great spots.

“It’s definitely bittersweet for us; we loved serving the Germantown and East Memphis community. The customer base we do have is really engaging, and many have been shopping here over the last eight years.”

Reporter Abigail Warren contributed to this story.