Aplós is expanding to Oxford, MS, in the summer of 2026
Aplós is expanding to Oxford, MS, in the summer of 2026
Restaurant entrepreneur Alex Eaton plans to open a third Aplós Simple Mediterranean location in Oxford.The new restaurant will be located in the Oxford Commons area, a growing part of the city.Eaton hopes the Oxford location will help expand the Aplós brand to other states through word-of-mouth from university students.The new Aplós is expected to open around June 2026.
Alex Eaton is at it again.
The restaurant entrepreneur who is expecting to open a new restaurant in Jackson’s Highland Village and is also the owner of the well-known Jackson and Ridgeland favorite Aplós Simple Mediterranean, said he has plans to expand outside of the Jackson Metro area in 2026.
Eaton graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2007. While the Highland Village restaurant La Presa Taqueria will open just across the courtyard from Aplós, in what was formerly LaCour, has not opened yet, Eaton expects everything to come together in the next week or so.
His newest restaurant project will be familiar to everyone while the location will be new.
Eaton told the Clarion Ledger he plans to open his third Aplós Simple Mediterranean in Oxford to take advantage of the expanding business landscape in the North Mississippi home of the University of Mississippi.
He said that when he was recruited by area businesspeople and economic development officials to a section of Oxford, called Oxford Commons northeast of The Square, there were a number of details that caught his attention.
One was that as he walked through the area where there are already many apartments and condos, he notices car tags from a lot of places other than Mississippi.
“I looked around and there were car tags from Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and then a few from Mississippi,” Eaton said.
For him, that was key as he has wanted to expand his restaurants outside the state of Mississippi. He viewed this as an opportunity to get his product in front of more people than just his two Aplós locations in Jackson and Ridgeland.
Aplós is an expanding brand
“I kind of have an unofficial goal of opening 10 restaurants in 10 years and having lots of college students going back home and telling people about Aplós gives me good word of mouth in the Birmingham and Nashville markets as well as other places. I can see this a great opportunity.”
Eaton, a Jackson product and MSU grad said he just had not known how much Oxford had grown in recent years.
“I just had no idea,” he said. “I’ve been to Oxford for big game days and to the Grove and things like that. I just had no idea that part of Oxford existed. It is such a growing area with lots of business opportunities. This was just a great opportunity for me and for Aplós as a brand.”
Another upside for Eaton was that when he was first called about potentially coming to Oxford, it was for Aplós to be an addition to what is already there.
“Usually when people call me, they want us to come be the first thing built in a development. Here, there is already a Chick-Fil-A nearby. It’s right down the street from the new Oxford High School,” Eaton said. “There is already traffic built in. It really was a no-brainer for us.”
Eaton said he hopes Aplós Simple Mediterranean in Oxford will be able to open around June 2026.
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
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