Why the New Raising Cane's and 7 Brew on West Jackson Only Let You Turn Right

When you pull out of the planned Raising Cane's or 7 Brew on West Jackson Avenue and want to head east toward town, which way will you be able to turn? Only right, heading west. Both projects on the old Mustard Seed Antique Mall site were approved with exits that allow right turns only, onto westbound West Jackson.

The approvals also include a queue rule. Each business is responsible for keeping its drive-through line on its own property. If a line spills into the street, the City of Oxford can close the curb cuts. Oxford has been working toward this approach for years, mostly along University Avenue, and the West Jackson site was designed around it from the start.

What Was Approved on the Old Mustard Seed Site

The Oxford Eagle reported in June that Raising Cane's planned to build at 1901 W. Jackson Ave., where Subway and the Mustard Seed Antique Mall used to be, on about 2.83 acres. The land is zoned Suburban Corridor, and in that district a restaurant with a drive-through needs special use approval. 7 Brew is planned for the east side of the same former Mustard Seed property. The two restaurants are part of one shared non-residential development.

The two buildings are very different in size:

Cane's also needed an earlier sign-off on its design. In April 2026 the Planning Commission approved stucco screen walls in place of a parapet to hide the rooftop mechanical equipment. The Eagle described those walls as 22 feet tall, finished to match the building.

Look at the stacking numbers in the table. Cane's planned for 27 cars in line before any of them reach a public street. 7 Brew's building is a sixth the size of Cane's, yet its plan uses three lanes. In both cases, most of the site plan is about holding a line of cars.

Why Both Exits Point West

City engineering comments on both projects use the same words. Each restaurant connects to West Jackson through a drive that "will restrict left turns out of the site," so exiting drivers can only turn right and go west.

The way 7 Brew got its approval shows how seriously the city took this. At the Planning Commission's September 14 meeting, commissioners asked about the entrance and exit design. Assistant City Engineer Norman Nichols asked for a redesign and agreed with their concerns. The applicant asked to have the item tabled so it could come back with a new plan. The motion to table passed 6 to 1.

The plan approved on October 12 addressed one problem directly. In the first version, cars leaving the 7 Brew drive-through came out directly across from Cane's traffic. The revised plan moves that exit farther back into the site, and its three drive-through lanes merge into a single lane before reaching the shared access drive. The commission approved it with all members in favor.

So the two restaurants share more than a property line. They share the access drive, they share a detention basin in the northeast corner of the site, and drivers leaving either one face the same westbound-only turn.

The Conditions Came From University Avenue

In 2022, the Oxford Eagle reported that Planning Commission staff had compared expected line lengths for a proposed Dunkin' at 1739 University Avenue. Staff noted that lines at McDonald's and Taco Bell, two nearby restaurants with more room to queue, "both nearly reach University Avenue at times." Commission chairman J.R. Rigby described the choice in the Eagle's account this way:

"As it's designed right now, … it's kind of a decision between putting the risk of additional stacking on the city versus putting it on the shopping center."

The commission approved Dunkin's drive-through, but only if designers worked out internal circulation that kept the line inside the University Shopping Center. In other words, the risk of a backed-up line went to the private property.

Two years later, the same question came up for Oxford's first 7 Brew, at University Avenue and South 17th Street. The Eagle reported in July 2024 that some commissioners were concerned about cars backing up onto University Avenue. Developer John Horne said the site would hold about 20 vehicles and that he did not expect lines ever to reach the street. That store's address is 1615 University Avenue.

The 2024 approvals also added the language West Jackson now uses. Planning Commission minutes from July 2024 attached a condition to the University 7 Brew allowing staff to require measures that steer cars into the development if a queue becomes a safety concern. In August 2024, the approval for Shadrach's coffee drive-through went further. It let the city close curb cuts temporarily or permanently if the line extended into the public right-of-way. Grand Oaks residents may remember that Shadrach's needed zoning approval of its own to open, which we covered in our post on the golf cart routes in Grand Oaks.

The Rule That Lets the City Close a Driveway

The West Jackson approvals take those earlier conditions and apply them to both businesses on the site. As the city staff reports list them, each restaurant must meet these terms:

1. The business is responsible for running its line so the line does not extend onto the public right-of-way.
2. If staff decides a line has become a safety concern because it is backing into the right-of-way, the business must take whatever steps are needed to direct customers into the development, to staff's satisfaction.
3. If the line is not kept on site, the city may close "any and all curb cuts," temporarily or permanently.

The third condition lets the city take away a restaurant's access. For a drive-through, a curb cut is the way customers get in. A restaurant whose line backs onto West Jackson could lose its driveway, so the business itself, not traffic on the street, absorbs the cost of an overflowing line. That arrangement explains why both site plans give so much room to waiting cars. Even Cane's dual lanes with 27 spaces were planned in addition to its 34 required parking spaces.

How the Second 7 Brew Fits the First

The September hearing also explained why 7 Brew wants a second Oxford store at all. According to the OpenMississippi transcript of that meeting, which the site notes is AI-generated, a representative for the applicant said the West Jackson site has "approximately 42% more stackable area" than the University Avenue store.

The representative said the company's experience elsewhere is that when a store is being "overwhelmed," a word he said he was using "kind of lightly" for the University store, the usual fix is to open another store in town "so that clientele kind of gets split." He also described a pass-through lane that can be opened as an extra queue lane at busy times, and employees working outside to direct traffic.

According to the city's minutes, Candice Horne and John Horne told the commission that 7 Brew and Cane's keep different hours, which helps with traffic control on a shared site. That gives the company two reasons for West Jackson. A second store could take some of the demand off University Avenue, and its busiest hours are expected to fall at different times from its neighbor's.

What Changes on a West Jackson Errand

Under the approved plans, a regular trip to this site would work like this.

• Getting in. Cane's planned access is a single new driveway on West Jackson, and 7 Brew connects through the shared access drive.
• Getting out. Both exits allow right turns only, heading west. If you're going east, you will need to turn around somewhere farther along.
• Walking up. Both site plans include a pedestrian connection from the public sidewalk on West Jackson to the building, as required by the city's Complete Streets review.
• Signs. Each business is limited to three signs, which city staff will permit separately.
• If a line ever reaches the street. The business has to fix it, and the city can close the curb cuts if it doesn't.

The full records are public. The September and October agendas, packets and minutes are on the City of Oxford's CivicClerk portal, and the October 12 meeting summary on OpenMississippi links to the meeting video.

Small approvals like these shape the daily drives to and from Oxford homes. If you are deciding between homes and want to know how planned commercial projects could affect the routes you would drive every day, Zach Callicutt can look at the city filings for those corridors with you. Book an appointment and bring the addresses you are considering.