Big Changes Coming To Midtown Tulsa Strip Mall

Changes are coming to a strip mall in midtown Tulsa. QuikTrip is planning to take over the corner of 51st and Lewis, forcing big changes.

The owner of Parkhill's Warehouse Liquors and Wine said he's using the relocation opportunity to update his store in anticipation of state question 792 taking effect.

For more than half a century, the Parkhill family has been doing business at 51st and Lewis - selling wine, liquor and beer.

"Well, I'm not quite 53 years old, but I grew up running around in here," said owner Lance Parkhill.

Parkhill plans to open his new store next fall. He said his new store will be bigger and, he hopes, better. Parkhill plans to build a private tasting room, open by invitation only, to stand out from other places selling alcohol.

"It's to help educate the customer and give them a service that they may not get elsewhere," he said.

He's thinking ahead to October 1st 2018, when state question 792 is expected to take effect.

The coolers in his "party" store will be a part of the new building.

Parkhill said, "We'll open the overhead door when the laws change, and there'll be no delay."

John Rupe Jr. with the Rupe Helmer Group said the new store will be a little larger than 20,000 square feet - giving Parkhill about 2,000 more square feet of space.

The new location is basically the backyard of where the store is right now; but another place in the strip mall, the tag agency, won't be staying so close by.

After 30 years, Kerrie Fenimore will be heading seven blocks south to the London Square Shopping Center. They plan to open February 6, 2017.

But, Fenimore said because tag agencies can't be within three miles of each other, finding a new location was difficult.

"When we opened up here there weren't that many, but during the 30 years they popped up everywhere," she said.

Narain Vardey owns Vardey's Tailor Shop and said he has no plans to relocate, so he will keep his store open as long as he can before he has to close.

We also reached out to Dr. Frank's Gym but have not heard back.

QuikTrip said it doesn't know when its 51st and Lewis store will open or when the decades-old stores will be demolished.

Mike Thornbrugh with QuikTrip said in the next 12-16 months there are plans to relocate or build five to seven QuikTrip stores.

The Retail Liquor Association filed a lawsuit Monday calling state question 792 unconstitutional, so there is some question about the law's future.