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New taste in Paris Historical District
By Mary Madewell
Published November 14, 2009
The newly opened Subway on the Plaza in downtown Paris is designed to bring back memories of the past, according to a father-son team whose roots in Lamar County go back generations to the 1800s.
Father Danny Martin and son, Jeff Martin, this past week celebrated a ribbon cutting for the store on the corner of Lamar Avenue and Main Street, the location of the historic Palace Drug Store, which graced downtown for decades.
A neon sign, reminiscent of the 1950s, hangs out front and a large wooden door is similar to that of the drug store. The ceiling is a replica of the past as are ceiling fans. The Subway organization granted a special waiver to the Martins to allow them to fit the store to the downtown historic atmosphere.
“We play 50s music to add to that atmosphere,” Danny said.
Both men on Friday talked about what the location means to them personally and to their franchise business, which includes four Paris locations with plans in the making for a fifth store in far West Paris sometime in the not-to-distant future.
“Grandma Betty’s, (Betty Gunter) first job was in Palace Drug as a soda jerk when she was about 15 years old,” Jeff said. “It means a lot to me that we have put something back in here that has something a little similar to a soda fountain.”
The owners’ latest location reminds Danny of the time he spent in downtown Paris as a child with his parents and grandparents. The Martins have a store in the Lamar Crossing shopping strip off Lamar Avenue in East Paris along with another inside Walmart along with a drive-thru store on North Main Street.
“We would come to the drug store, and Sears was right across the street,” Danny recalled. “I’ve spent many an hour down here as a child, and I am glad to be a small part of helping to restore our historic downtown.”
The renovation of the corner building, owned by downtown developer Gary Brown and leased by the Martins, revealed unexpected reminders of the past.
“We tore the foundation down to the dirt where we found plates and cups melted together in clumps,” Danny Martin said. “It must have been from the 1916 Fire. All those stacks of dishes stuck together from the fire.”
And in the far back of the store contractors found hundreds of T-bones.
“There must have been some kind of restaurant opening from the other direction,” he said.
Relics from the drug store were found in the walls.
“We found vials of medicine with corks still on the bottles and a letter from an agriculture supply company that was dated in the 1950s,” Jeff added.
“I guess in the old days you had to get your veterinary medicines from drug stores,” Danny surmised. “The letter talked about screwworms and other such things.”
The Martins also own Camper Dan’s in Reno. Danny purchased that business more than a decade ago after spending about 20 years at Superior Technologies where he went to work right out of high school. He served as plant manager there several years before the company closed.
“I would have never imagined then I would be making sandwiches today,” Danny said.
Jeff said he and his father began looking for investment opportunities several years ago.
“The food business was the first opportunity to come up,” he said. That was when Gary and Jane Vest decided to sell the Lamar Crossing Store. Walmart quickly followed and then the opportunity to purchase the North Main store.
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