Germantown's Morning Run Is Moving Into a Bank, a Bake Shop and an AutoZone

The building at 1227 S. Germantown Road was built for banking. Since October, it has been a coffee shop. Ramblin' Joe's Coffee opened its newest café there, in what used to be a Simmons Bank branch. The company's own locations page lists the Germantown shop as its "New Location, Open Now."

Something similar is happening elsewhere on the same road and over on Farmington Boulevard. A former bake shop in Thornwood is being fitted out for Palmer House Bakery. A former AutoZone is set to become a Southern breakfast restaurant. Germantown's morning options are growing inside storefronts that were built for something else, and each one is set up for a different kind of morning.

A former bank lobby now set up for long stays

Ramblin' Joe's planned the Germantown café around seating. In its September announcement on Choose901, the company said this location would have "a larger seated area for working and studying than the previous locations in Memphis."

That makes this the Germantown spot for a long stay: a laptop morning, a study session, a meeting that runs past one cup. The menu supports staying through lunch. The café's delivery listing shows espresso drinks, iced lattes, cold brew and nitro, tea and matcha, smoothies, pastries, small bites, and breakfast and lunch items.

The company is local. Choose901 describes Ramblin' Joe's as a Memphis-born, third-generation coffee company with more than 50 years of history that runs cafés alongside a coffee roasting and distribution business. Hoodline reported that the Germantown café is the company's sixth location and that the brand was previously known as Ugly Mug. Longtime Memphians may know the name from that era.

Founder David Lambert put the move in neighborly terms in the Choose901 release: "We're excited to become part of the Germantown community." Operations director Megan Lambert added that the company is "looking forward to making this location their new coffee stop."

In Thornwood, the pastry case is getting its own door

Ramblin' Joe's is built for staying. The Thornwood project is built for picking something up and leaving.

JoJo's Espresso sits in Thornwood at 1730 S. Germantown Road, Suite 101, and serves coffee, seasonal drinks, breakfast and lunch. Its pastries come from Palmer House Bakery. WhatNow Memphis describes Palmer House as well known to JoJo's customers for those pastries.

Now Palmer House is preparing a storefront of its own across from JoJo's, next door to Buff City Soap. The Daily Memphian identifies the space as the former Crave Sweets Bake Shop, so one bakery counter in Thornwood is being followed by another.

The bakery is a mother-and-daughter business. Sophie launched it, and her mother, Ashley Pier, took on a larger role in daily operations. Sophie still handles all the custom cakes, according to WhatNow Memphis. Pier told WhatNow that Thornwood had approached them about a space once before, and "when they reached out again, it felt like the perfect opportunity, and we jumped at it."

The format is the opposite of the bank-lobby café. Pier told WhatNow Memphis, "We'll have a few seats, but the space will primarily focus on takeaway." She described the plan as a daily selection of fresh baked goods alongside preorders for celebrations. The planned case includes:

• Pastries, cookies, muffins and scones, baked daily
• Seasonal treats, with a menu that changes through the year
• Custom cakes
• The gluten-friendly items customers already know from JoJo's

JoJo's keeps its pastries either way. Pier told WhatNow, "We'll continue supplying JoJo's with pastries while growing our own retail storefront." So the coffee and the pastry box can come from facing storefronts in the same center.

The timing matters with the holidays close. Pier told WhatNow Memphis she hopes customers will be able to pick up Thanksgiving preorders at the new Germantown storefront. For Thanksgiving pastries, check with the bakery directly about ordering and pickup.

Sitting down to a full breakfast is still months away

A long café stay and a quick pastry stop are both covered on S. Germantown Road. The one morning that still means a drive is a full breakfast at a table, and that piece is the furthest out.

Sunrise Memphis plans its third restaurant at 7699 W. Farmington Blvd., in a storefront that used to be an AutoZone. WhatNow Memphis reported that a commercial alteration permit application lists the project at 4,900 square feet. That is a much bigger room than a grab-and-go bakery needs. The target is late spring 2027.

Owner Ryan Trimm told the Daily Memphian, in remarks WhatNow Memphis relayed, that the site was the end of a long search: "We were looking everywhere. I knew I'm not ready to branch out of Memphis." The Germantown restaurant will join the existing Sunrise locations on Poplar Avenue and Jefferson Avenue.

The menu is Southern breakfast: biscuit sandwiches, which Sunrise calls biscuit sammies, and plates with names like "the not so short stack" and "dive bar double down." Until the Farmington location opens, a Sunrise breakfast means a trip to the Poplar Avenue or Jefferson Avenue location.

Matching the stop to the morning

Taken together, the three projects split Germantown's morning by how long you plan to stay.

1. For a long stay with a laptop or a study group, Ramblin' Joe's at 1227 S. Germantown Road was set up with extra seating for exactly that, and it serves food through lunch.
2. For a quick coffee and a pastry, JoJo's Espresso in Thornwood already carries Palmer House pastries. Palmer House's own counter across from JoJo's is planned around takeaway, preorders and custom cakes.
3. For a sit-down Southern breakfast, the Germantown Sunrise is aiming for late spring 2027 on W. Farmington Boulevard. The Poplar Avenue and Jefferson Avenue locations serve that menu in the meantime.

Mia pays attention to these changes because the coffee stop, the bakery down the street and the breakfast spot are often what make a Germantown address feel like home. If you're thinking about where your own mornings might start next year, Mia Atkinson would be glad to talk it through, starting with the Germantown storefronts she knows best. Book a Call whenever it suits your schedule.