Fort Worth restaurateur Lou Lambert confirmed Thursday that he’s in a group that will buy the old recently-closed Roy Pope Grocery & Market on Fort Worth’s West Side, and will renovate it to include expanded specialty grocery items, bakery-coffee-wine bar, prepackaged orders to go, floral, enlarged wine and beer selection, and outdoor seating.
Lambert is in partnership with Mark Harris of the James R. Harris Partners real estate development firm of Fort Worth, and Rodger Chieffalo, another Fort Worth real estate veteran, Lambert said in an interview.
The group expects to close within “the next few days” on the purchase of the site and 7,500-square-foot building at 2300 Merrick St. and the intellectual property, including the name, Lambert said. The business will continue to operate as Roy Pope Grocery when it re-opens, expected in early fall, he said.
“We’re really going to try to grasp the history, but give it the needed upgrade and product mix that is more relevant” to today’s customers and shopping trends, he said. For one, grab-and-go and takeout products have become much more popular amid COVID-19, he said.
The group envisions retaining its existing customer base, and expanding it, to become a “neighborhood hang spot,” Lambert said.
“I think we retain the customers we have, and then we enlarge our customer base, because of the quality of the food and products,” he said. ”We’re really trying to gear it to the neighborhoods
The produce, meat, specialty grocery, and beer and wine categories will remain, but be expanded, Lambert said. Among other new products will be a soft-serve frozen Greek yogurt center. The new owners will also add indoor seating, he said. The store will still carry household essentials, but a more limited range, he said. “People are still going to go to the big boxes for their weekly shop.”
One early challenge will be determining which products the group can buy on a consistent basis for the re-opening, given disruption to the supply chain caused by COVID, Lambert said. “A lot of the big (grocery) stores have empty shelves.”
Lambert has a long history in Fort Worth. He was chef at the Reata restaurant when it opened in downtown Fort Worth. In 2006, he and partners opened Dutch’s Hamburgers on the TCU campus in Fort Worth, and Lambert remains a partner today. Dutch’s expanded nine months ago, taking in an adjacent restaurant space. Lambert also founded the since-closed Lambert’s Steaks, Seafood & Whiskey in Fort Worth. More recently, he founded Lou’s bodega in Austin. He and his sister are currently renovating a bed and breakfast north of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico.
The original Roy Pope was founded in 1943, and quickly became popular among West Siders. Following Pope’s death in 1967, longtime employee John LeMond bought the store, selling it in 1990 to manager Bob Larance and his wife Renee, the current owners.