By Molly O’Neill, Photo by @societymemphis
If you’re a Rhodes student trying to get to know Memphis, Society is the place to go. Mark Horrocks and his partner Matthew Wrage have built the perfect spot to hang out for all ages. Since my freshman year I have loved getting away from campus and just existing in this vibrant place. As no simple explanation of Society could suffice, I will let Mr. Horrocks speak for himself.
What is your background that you decided to build this hybrid space for skaters and coffee lovers and artists? Are you familiar with skate culture or were you just recognizing the need for this space in Memphis?
I have a non-profit background; I’ve been in nonprofits for years and became a community builder through that. I skateboarded when I was younger and still mess around every once in a while. This venture happened when my current business partner bought the building to move his workshop in, but that didn’t work out and he needed to figure out what to do with the building. I heard about a skatepark for sale in Atlanta Georgia and it was being sold under the requirement that the park would find new life. So, I called him up and two days later we were on our way to Atlanta to chop up this skate park and pack it up on 6 semis to bring back to Memphis. We spent the next 16-18 months building up the park, the commercial space, and the coffee shop. Both of us having a construction background we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. All the coffee tables in the shop today are made by Wrage. This wasn’t something I had dreamed of, I’m a serial entrepreneur I ran my own nonprofit for 14 years. This to me was about doing what I love and building communities. I wanted to help the Memphis community embrace all the city has to offer. I knew there was a thriving skate culture in Memphis so I could build upon that. Adding a coffee shop component is a subculture in itself. The mixed use of this space has helped with revenue and keeping us open. We’ve been here for 3 years, 2 years of that have been a pandemic so that’s been interesting. We built a loyal community of people who love coffee, music, skateboarding, and art it’s everything we wanted it to become.
How did the pandemic impact the community you were trying to create?
We had to fall in line with the gyms because of the skating. The gyms got shut down and we got shut down for about 2 months. During that time, we pivoted, if you couldn’t come to the skate park, we would bring the park to you. So, we built about 16 ramps and started renting them out to people for a few days or weeks at a time. Families worried about how long quarantine would last just ended up buying them. That allowed us to stay connected with the community and make enough revenue to keep the lights on. We all experience the pandemic in our own ways and when we opened back up, we saw our regulars, but still others we didn’t see for another year. It was hard with everyone’s comfort zones; we had a family come after the start of the pandemic and they shared that they hadn’t been out in 18 months.
One of the things I love about society is how intergenerational you are. You cater to parents, children, and young people all with ease. Is there any age group that you’re still hoping to reach out to?
When we first opened, we thought we would get a lot of teenagers and young adults, but what we found after we opened was that young kids wanted to be introduced to this sport. We had skate camps for younger kids and that really went well. Being a coffee shop, we have a ton of people come in during the day that are older who enjoy our space. A lot of people are still hearing about us we get people coming in all the time saying, “Oh I never knew you were here”. Since we are so off the beaten path, we are working on marketing to make sure people in Memphis know that we are here.
You guys are reentering the music game with your concerts and Jazz nights. How did you first get started with that?
Prior to Society through my non-profit and other ventures I used to put on concerts and blue grass festivals like LUVMUD—a 5k mud run and 2-day festival at Shelby park. I’ve always been a live music junkie; I live for live music. One of the heartbeats of Society that we always wanted to incorporate was art and music. It plays such a large role in skate culture as it is but providing this space for local bands and traveling bands has been really great. The pandemic threw us off, but we are getting back on track with concerts. We’ve got shows booked every weekend in March and are starting to fill up April and June. I basically want to have live shows every weekend. We also have the UofM Jazz program come twice a month. Our range goes from jazz, hip hop, rap, grunge indie rock, even Memphis Underground which is a pretty hardcore band. I’m also excited about bringing out of town music, Memphis has some great bands but reaching out to bands in Nashville has been really rewarding.
Was there any backlash about setting up this space? What was the reception of the community when you first put this idea out there?
It was well received. We had a number of advocates and a friend of mine started Tobey Park which is another public skate park, the first one in Memphis. There was a great excitement and energy about that which was great to see. The community was really behind him. Having this indoor space filled a great need. Skate culture is interesting, there are people who skate everyday, people who skate for fun and kids who are finding this new passion. On rainy days they need a place to go so Society fills that need. Parents especially can be uncomfortable leaving their kids in public outdoor spaces. I remember one mom early on who was thrilled at the idea of an airconditioned coffee shop where she could stay while her kids were skating. One of the challenges we faced early on and still face is our location. Memphis has gone through different transitions over the years, we are in a part of Memphis that used to be somewhere you wouldn’t go after dark. Over the past five- or six-years Memphis has gone through this reformation with places like Crosstown, Cooper Young, South Main, and now the Broad Avenue arts district which are now becoming these great hangout spots. We still get calls asking about the safety of our space, but we’ve had no issues since the day we’ve opened. Usually a parent or someone new comes here and are excited to have this safe place to go day or night.
Why Society?
We call it Society because it’s a place to belong, you could care less about skateboarding and just enjoy the coffee shop or vice versa, we strive to provide an inclusive welcoming culture here. A lot like skate culture, it’s very welcoming to outsiders, we don’t care about talent we just want you to come and hangout. We have some kids who come here every day it’s like a second home. There’s something about Memphis that just draws you in. There are so many people trying to create a better culture here and strengthen the community. To do that today with Society is great.
It’s clear you have a dedication to Memphis, I know there is often a fear of gentrification and erasure, but Society doesn’t seem to do that.
We are building on what’s already here. The skate culture, the music scene, and the artists we work with all just needed a space for them to express themselves and we provided. We want to highlight what we love about Memphis. The future of Memphis are the people investing in our city and doing their part to make the city better.
Horrocks also cites Zac Roberts who runs the skate shop as being crucial to their success. Roberts has been involved since day one. He’s a lifelong skater who has played a huge part in making Society what it is today. His dedication to growing the skate community in Memphis just shows off his heart. Horrocks is not originally from Memphis but claims it as his own. Coming to Memphis, he started off with nonprofits helping families like his who were dealing with having a child with terminal illness. To this day he has continued to build up the Memphis community. It’s clear that Horrocks, his partner Roberts and their entire team love the environment they have created and love building up the Memphis community. As a college student I’ve been going to Society since freshman year. I have no background in skating but watching from their upstairs viewing room and sipping on delicious coffee has been just as fun. It’s such a short drive from Rhodes and is a perfect way to get out of our little bubble and become more familiar with what this city has to offer.