Justus Drugstore’s Smithville restaurant building is sold, owner looks to Northland

The owner of Smithville’s Justus Drugstore restaurant has sold the property his family has owned since 1840.

Jonathan Justus said his great-great-grandfather once had a harness shop on the property. His grandfather later relocated his Justus Drugstore to a new building on the site in 1955, wanting his pharmacy within sight of people leaving the Smithville hospital down the street.

Another drugstore shut down in the building in mid-2006, just when Justus and his wife, Camille Eklof, had returned from France.

They spent a year working on plans to put Justus Drugstore restaurant in the space at 106 W. Main St., and opened it in May 2007.

It temporarily closed on New Year’s Eve 2017, as the couple concentrated on their new operation, Black Dirt, just south of the Country Club Plaza. They recently started doing renovations on the Smithville building when an office user approached them about buying it.

“It wasn’t listed, it wasn’t for sale, but they made us an offer that I really couldn’t refuse,” Justus said. “I didn’t think they could offer me enough to walk away from a building that had been in my family so long and everything we put into it and to pay off the note. But I was wrong.”

The purchase price was not disclosed.

The couple put most of the restaurant equipment and seating in storage and plan to bring out many of the items for a new Northland Justus Drugstore.

“I’m out scouting locations now. I’m sitting in a bar that could be a future Justus Drugstore. But I’m in no hurry,” Justus said in a phone interview Tuesday morning.

He said he probably won’t reopen the restaurant in Smithville, saying development plans for the area have changed since the couple first opened their business there.

Meanwhile, Black Dirt has expanded its menu, adding lunch service and now brunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 5:30 AM.