MEDFORD, OR – A former downtown Medford car lot has found new life as a hub for food carts, offering choices from cheeseburgers to chèvre at an emerging hot spot called the Chop Shop.

Since the beginning of October, the lot at the corner of Eighth and Fir streets has housed up to seven food trucks, including standbys Figgy’s and Peruvian Point, as well as recent upstarts, including Wok Star, Curbside King and Fired Up!

“It’s a really good group of folks,” said Benny Shapiro, who owns the lot as well the Cheesesteak King food truck.

The Chop Shop’s name ties in with Shapiro’s other business, Indian Creek Auto Dismantlers in Grants Pass. Shapiro plans to add a place to order auto parts from the business next to the food cart lot.

Vendors rent space from Shapiro and commit to being open from at least 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. Some expand their hours to weekends, and Shapiro plans to test Friday and Saturday nights to see if he can draw the bar crowd.

Shapiro owned the previous business on the lot, I C Auto Sales, but the idea to centrally locate food trucks came when Melissa Jones-Hanscom, owner of Figgy’s Food Truck for four years, approached Shapiro about leasing the lot after the car dealership closed.

From there, Shapiro and Jones-Hanscom reached out to other food-truck vendors, and the lot quickly filled.

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