Haskel Burns

American Staff Writer

Downtown Hattiesburg is about to be home to the Hub City’s newest restaurant and event venue.

Hattiesburg entrepreneur Ben Shemper is finalizing plans for the Dollar BOX Showroom, which will offer a sidewalk cafe with soups, sandwiches and daily specials, as well as venue space for events such as concerts and wedding receptions.

An exact opening date hasn’t been set, but Shemper hopes to have the Dollar BOX Showroom up and running by the end of October at 600 N. Main St., in the former Taste Bar location.

“This is an attempt to bring bigger, better events downtown, and it’s good for everybody,” said Shemper, who also owns Benny’s Boom Boom Room on Front Street. “When people come downtown, they shop around, and they don’t stay in the same place too long. So this will benefit everyone down there.”

Shemper, who in the past has helped coordinate events for The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint and The Bottling Company, said he hopes to provide a good deal of variety to the downtown crowd.

“What we saw at The Shed was that you can’t really eat barbecue every day, so I’m trying to give downtown people something affordable, walkable and convenient,” he said. “If you don’t want to eat salad or something light, you can get a plate lunch, like fried chicken or jambalaya or something like that. I’ve even got my mom in the picture — she’s a beast in the kitchen.”

To offer even more variety, Dollar BOX Showroom also will feature several sushi items, which will be provided by Sakura Japanese Restaurant in Hattiesburg.

“Everybody likes sushi, right?” Shemper said. “You see it on every corner nowadays, but there isn’t anybody doing it downtown. So I figured this was my chance to bring that aspect to downtown.”

As far as the music aspect goes, Shemper plans to use his prior booking expertise to lure some sizable acts to town.

“I’m going to be bringing all kinds of awesome entertainment downtown,” he said. “A lot of stuff that I used to do at The Bottling Company and Brewsky’s, I’m going to be doing that in-house now, so I’m excited about that.

“And we just needed a place where you could have a bigger act. Some of these bigger performers, they don’t even look at rooms that are less than a certain capacity.”

T-Bones Records & Cafe owner Harry Crumpler III, who has promoted music events with Shemper in the past, said the new venue will definitely help Hattiesburg’s music scene.

“Hattiesburg has a lot of great music from within it, and due to our location it’s easy for it to come through here,” he said. “Opening a larger-capacity venue is a great idea, because a lot of times it can stop larger acts from coming through if they don’t have a large enough room to make money in.

“Hattiesburg has come a long way in that regard, and this will further enable those talented groups to come through town. And great bands coming through town generates bar sales, ticket sales — it’s good for the economy, and it’s great entertainment for the people that live here.”

And fear not, fans of Benny’s Boom Boom Room — although Shemper is investing in the new business, the Boom Boom Room will continue to operate as normal.

“The Boom Boom Room is going to thrive on; we’re going to keep going strong over there,” Shemper said. “That’s been kind of hard for me because everybody thinks I’m moving. But everything is exactly the same, nothing’s changing at all.”

Historic Hattiesburg Downtown Association Executive Director Walt Denton, who on Tuesday heard the news about The Dollar BOX Showroom, said he was fired up to have the business coming to downtown.

“It’s beyond exciting news,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine a better person to get their hands on that specific property. You look at the success Ben has had with Benny’s Boom Boom Room, and bringing that level of expertise into a high-visibility venue right on that corner (of Main and Pine streets) — I can’t wait to see what he does with the place.”

For Denton, it’s also another step forward in his plan to connect downtown with Southern Miss and William Carey University.

“(Ben) just has kind of a magnetic pull for the college scene, and that’s another aspect that I’m pretty excited about,” Denton said. “He has a very clear vision as to what’s going to happen in that space, and it’s going to be like a beehive of activity in there. That corner is going to be a hub.”

At a glance

The Dollar BOX Showroom

• Expected to open in late October at 600 N. Main St. in downtown Hattiesburg

• Will offer a sidewalk cafe with soups, sushi, sandwiches and daily specials, as well as venue space for events like concerts and wedding receptions

• For more information, call 408-6040.