Babcock Gifts leaves its 26-year-old location

 After 26 years at its current location at 4626 Poplar Avenue in East Memphis, Babcock Gifts will move to a new home to start the new year. The retail store specializing in unique gifts, tabletop, and bridal registry items will move across Perkins Road into the Laurelwood Shopping Center.
 
Hutzell Construction is handling the $250,000 build-out for Babcock Gifts's space, which will be next to retailer Baer's Den. 
 
New Babcock Gifts owner Brooks Terry purchased the business in September from Buzzy Hussey, who started the company more than 40 years ago. Terry had previously worked in purchasing and wanted to start his own business.
 
“I decided I wanted to work for myself, and I wanted to own something with a great reputation that was worth putting a lot of time and money into,” he said.
 
The gift store sells pottery from local artists, dishware, crystal, silver, china, Christmas ornaments, cookbooks, candles and more.
 
“’We’ll keep all the lines we have now because many of them are exclusive to this store,” he said. “We’re unloading a load of Baucum pottery as we speak. It’s a new Christmas line, which they have never done before. This is the second shipment we’ve had of theirs this season; the first sold out in six days.”
 
Babcock Gifts officially opens in Laurelwood on January 5, and Terry expects to add a couple of new employees in the coming months.
 
“My hope is that we’ll get to see our customers more at the new location,” said Terry, citing increased foot traffic through the Laurelwood Shopping Center.
 
Along with Babcock, J. McLaughlin, a New York-based retailer of women’s and men’s clothing, has also signed on to move into Laurelwood later next year.
 
Large-scale redevelopment work is underway on the corner of Poplar Ave. and Perkin Road in front of Laurelwood, with the recent demolition of the former Sears department store that had stood on the property since 1958.
 
Going up in its place is the $25 million Poplar Commons Center, which will include five buildings across 135,200 square feet.  Nordstrom Rack will be the center’s new anchor tenant.