Smokin Jones BBQ is moving into the historic Wrinks Market building along Route 66 in Lebanon, Missouri, a few weeks after its previous tenant announced it was closing.
According to the Laclede County Record, Smokin Jones also will offer fresh-made salads, plus pies made by Wrinks’ pie maker. Food will be sold to-go.
Mike Jones and his partners at Smokin Jones already have other locations in Ozark and Eldon in Missouri. But Jones indicated he held fond memories of Wrinks, including buying candy and sandwiches from the store’s longtime owner, Glenn Wrinkle, when Jones was a teen.
The granddaughter of Glenn Wrinkle announced the closing of her Vintage Cowgirl at Wrinks Market in July after seven years there.
Cheryl Wrinkle, the owner of the building, told the newspaper they enjoyed serving Route 66 travelers but cited rising costs for the shutdown.
Wrinkle opened Wrinks Market along Route 66 in 1950 and kept it going until he died at the age of 82 in 2005.
He was such a legend of Route 66, he was featured or at least mentioned in scores of books and articles about the historic highway.
His son, Terry Wrinkle, reopened it for about two years starting in 2007, but it shuttered amid the Great Recession.
(Hat tip to Gary Sosniecki; image of Wrink’s Market in Lebanon, Missouri, by JymPoiranges via Flickr)