Whole Foods Market
Two high profile brands, Whole Foods Market and Wawa ,will make up the proposed shopping plaza, University Station, coming to the southwest corner of University Parkway and Honore Avenue.
Rezoing paperwork filed with Sarasota County shows that SJ Collins Enterprises, the Atlanta-based commercial developer behind the plaza, will build a 40,148-square-foot Whole Foods Market grocery store and an additional 10,000 square feet of in-line shops near Honore Avenue. A Wawa gas station will be positioned off University Parkway.
The new grocery store will likely open in 18 months to two years from now, Whole Foods officials said.
This is the second supermarket to open in the region by the upscale grocer, which has operated a busy and profitable supermarket on First Street in downtown Sarasota since 2004.
Wawa, A Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain, has been expanding aggressively throughout Florida. The company’s first Southwest Florida store opened at 701 First St. E., in Bradenton, in December with huge crowds. There are three proposed gas stations in Sarasota County.
Some nearby residents worry that having two well known brands, like Whole Foods and Wawa, which are known to have cult-like followings for their products, will generate even more traffic on the growing University Parkway commercial corridor. In February, SJ Collins agreed to provide a traffic analysis to determine what kind of traffic impact the proposed plaza would have on that area.
The plans for the shopping center, called University Station, will have three shared traffic access points: a right turn in/right turn out access from University Parkway, a right turn in/right turn out access from Honore Avenue and a traffic signal on Honore Avenue.
For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.
Buddy Brew Coffee will open a barista bar next to the Louie’s Modern restaurant and beneath the Palm Avenue parking garage this month.
Buddy Brew Coffee, known for its specialty coffee drinks and craft roaster, plans to open on Palm Avenue in downtown Sarasota by the end of the month. Patrons will be able to enjoy the outdoor patio seating, which is shared with Louie’s Modern restaurant and the adjacent event venue, The Francis.
The stand-alone coffee shop will collaborate with Louie’s Modern by serving its products inside the restaurant, like featuring Buddy Brew coffee on Louie’s Modern’s new Sunday Brunch menu.
Buddy Brew, which launched in 2010, uses coffee sourced from farmers around the globe. The company operates two shops in downtown Tampa – one in Kennedy Bolevard and a coffee counter inside the Oxford Exchange. Buddy Brew also operates a mobile coffee truck, which can be seen on location at the McDill Airforce Base in Tampa and at other locations in the Bay area.
Buddy Brew products are available in some Florida Whole Foods Market stores.
Check out this coffee how-to series on Youtube by Buddy Brew baristas.
For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.
Whole Foods Market announced it will open a second grocery store in Sarasota this year.
The new store in Sarasota is one of eight supermarkets Whole Foods is opening in the U.S. and Canada in 2015, executives said during the company’s first quarter earnings report Friday.
The 40,000-square-foot grocery store will open at the southwest corner of University Parkway and Honore Avenue, not farm from Interstate 75 and the Mall at University Town Center, and will anchor a new shopping plaza that has yet to be built.
It will likely open within 18 months to two years from now.
The Austin-based high end, organic grocery chain operates one store in the Southwest Florida region on First Street in downtown Sarasota. Casto Lifestyle Properties, a Lakewood Ranch-based commercial real estate firm, built the downtown Whole Foods Market Center/100 Central retail and condominium complex in downtown Sarasota in 2004.
“Ever since we first came to Sarasota in 2004 we’ve had nothing but positive feedback from the community and the market is strong enough for a second location,” said Juan Nuñez, regional president for Whole Foods Market Florida region. “Our current location services the downtown area, and our second Sarasota store will attract shoppers off the highway and the retail area that’s expanding off of I-75.”
SJ Collins Enterprises, an Atlanta-based retail developer, is behind the new shopping plaza coming to the University Park region . Whole Foods will anchor the center, though the developer plans to add restaurants and other soft goods storefronts.
“Whole Foods thought that there was too much traffic congestion in the Benderson property for every day use,” said Jeff Garrison, a partner with the Georgia real estate firm.
Benderson Development proposed a plan for an additional 600,000 square feet of retail space off University Parkway near its brand new 880,000-square-foot mall. The addition, which hasn’t been approved by Sarasota County and the state yet, would bring the local developer’s total retail footprint surrounding the mall and west of Lakewood Ranch to 2.58 million square feet of commercial development.
Whole Foods Market continues to expand aggressively in the country with 116 stores in development right now, despite some faltering sales in recent years. The company is also expanding into Canada with three new stores this year.
The first quarter earnings report shows that Whole Foods’ sales are steady. During the first quarter, total sales increased by 10 percent to $4.67 billion and same-store sales rose by 4.5 percent.
The upscale grocery chain known for its high prices has actively tried to drop prices to better compete with other brands that offer discount prices.
Whole Foods is listed as No. 19 on trade firm, Supermarket News’, list of the top 75 retailers in 2014. Whole Foods made the top 20 with $12.9 billion in annual sales
Other new Whole Foods locations scheduled to open this year include Baltimore, Bellingham, Wash., Bridgewater, N.J., Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Mandeville, La., and Toledo, Ohio. Whole Foods operates 408 stores across the U.S.
Photo By Ken Blevins/StarNew
For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.
In celebration of upcoming birth of Price William and Kate Middleton’s baby, the first heir to be born in more than 25 years, Whole Foods Market has launched a a cheddar cheese themed specifically around the royal family. 
William & Kate fans can now purchase the Westminster William and Kate Royal Addition Cheddar cheese at Whole Foods Market stores across the country. The all-natural, white cheddar is made on a farm in England and aged for one year. It is known for its creamy yet savory flavor.
Shoppers can purchase the cheese for $9.99 a pound and is only available fora limited time at the Sarasota store on 1st Street and other stores nationwide.
Photo courtesy of Whole Foods Market
For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.