Beale Street businesses ride out Memphis law enforcement surge

A year after a coalition of law enforcement agencies converged on Memphis, conducting widespread traffic stops and roundups, Beale Street businesses are struggling to stay afloat as customers avoid the historic downtown area.

Although several factors are believed to be involved in the slowdown, some local leaders say the Tennessee National Guard’s deployment is part of the problem, while others believe the military presence is helping quell crime. 

“Downtown is a different place,” Memphis City Councilman J. Smiley says, and businesses are “taking a beating” until Memphis leaders can figure out a survival strategy.

As part of the Memphis Safe Task Force ordered by President Donald Trump to suppress street crime, Gov. Bill Lee deployed the Tennessee National Guard to the city in September 2025. 

Troops have spent a good deal of their time patrolling Beale Street, and although supporters of the surge say it has cut crime dramatically, Memphis’ most popular spot for tourism and local activities has become a ghost town as a result.

Smiley, a member of the Downtown Neighborhood Association who joined a failed lawsuit to stop the National Guard deployment, says people are inclined to move to different locations such as Midtown Memphis instead of visiting Beale Street because they feel they’re being “occupied.”

“If you think the National Guard and task force is going to be there, you go somewhere else,” Smiley told the Lookout.

At least two business fronts have shut down since the task force entered the city, including Coyote Ugly and one Ghost Rivers brewery location that merged with another one. The old Daisy Theatre is undergoing renovation after a fire.

Withers Collection Museum and Gallery, which documents Memphis’ civil rights and music history, has been in a “slump” for a year after rebounding from the COVID pandemic, according to curator Joe Calhoun.

Shootings near Beale Street were already keeping locals away. But when the task force and National Guard troops showed up, things didn’t turn around, he says.

“When you have a convention that’s coming to a city and they hear the narrative about the National Guard, you’re reluctant to bring your people to a city where you can’t guarantee their safety,” Calhoun says.

Black residents and Hispanic immigrants are also afraid to visit the downtown area in the evenings because of fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who often station themselves near Memphis’ judicial buildings, he says. 

Calhoun prefers to take an optimistic view, pointing out that even though everyday traffic is down, turnout for scheduled events is good. He hopes that completion of St. Jude Children’s Hospital towers will bring a downtown “turnaround.”

The FedEx Forum where the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies play is set to undergo a $550 million improvements project, including upgrades to the surrounding neighborhood. New apartments are under construction as well, a block off Beale.

“There is some new life, but it’s just slow moving,” Calhoun says.

At least two Republican lawmakers who represent portions of Shelby County told the Lookout they were unaware Beale Street was going through hard times.

State Rep. Kevin Vaughan of Collierville says he’s not a “regular purveyor” of Beale and couldn’t tell whether traffic is down, but he says constituents tell him they feel safer going into downtown Memphis to dine out and go to shows at the Orpheum.

“They feel as if downtown has been restored to what it was before the crime wave hit,” Vaughan says.

Sen. Paul Rose of Covington, a strong supporter of the task force, says he’s “always concerned about any legitimate business surviving.” But he says the only comments he’s heard come from people who describe how “pleasant it is, how safe they feel.” 

Rose adds that he understands a move is under way to grow business and bring people back to the downtown area.

“I personally have not heard any negative comments about the safe task force, National Guard being there,” he said. “My personal opinion is we’d be best served if they continue to be there.”

Rose called the results of the task force “phenomenal” but could not speculate about how long he feels it should remain in Memphis. 

Task force members have been involved in at least four shooting deaths, as well, including one in which an autopsy showed the victim was shot in the back. The task force claimed the man pulled a gun and was moving toward a National Guard soldier when he was shot.