What Happened to Cotham's Mercantile After Man v. Food? (Scott, AR)
Man v. Food, Season 2 Scott, Arkansas Closed 2017
Current status
As of October 2026, Cotham's Mercantile has closed — confirmed via arkansasonline.com, May 31, 2017.
What the source shows: 2017 news coverage documents a fire that destroyed the original Scott, Arkansas Mercantile building, and a 2026 Yelp listing for that address still shows it permanently closed. How we decide a status →
- Episode Season 2, Episode 17
- Aired
- Address 5301 Hwy 161, Scott, AR
- Website cothams.com
We have not confirmed map coordinates for this address yet.
What happened after Man v. Food?
Cotham's Mercantile was featured on the show's Little Rock-area episode that aired 2009-11-25, highlighting the restaurant's hubcap burger and its old-time country-store setting on stilts over a bayou in Scott, Arkansas, just outside Little Rock. According to the restaurant's own history page, the original Mercantile store was built in 1912 and served for decades as a general store, military commissary, and community gathering spot before becoming a restaurant, and it operated alongside a sister location, Cotham's In the City, which opened in downtown Little Rock in 1999. THV11 reported that the Scott building burned down early on 2017-05-29, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported the same fire on 2017-05-31. A Yelp listing for the Scott address, updated 2026-03, still marks the location permanently closed, and no reopening announcement for the original Mercantile site was found.
The episode
Also in Season 2
Season 2: 41 of 64 still open · 3 renamed, moved or under new owners
- Open
-
Ep 16the Roadhouse
Open -
Ep 16West Rib Deli & Pub
Closed - Open
-
Ep 17Osborne Family Farm
Closed -
Ep 18El Guero Canelo
Open - Relocated
-
Ep 18Mi Nidito
Open
All 19 TV restaurants in Arkansas →
Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.
Sources we checked
- arkansasonline.com https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2017/may/31/cotham-s-in-scott-burns-devastated-owne/
- thv11.com https://www.thv11.com/article/news/local/historic-cothams-mercantile-destroyed-in-fire/444066932
- Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/cothams-scott
We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.
Record mvf-113 · checked by Cal Marchetti.