Orlando's first city-center supermarket in nearly three decades opens this weekend with slightly undersized shopping carts waiting for downtown workers on lunch breaks and on-the-go shoppers from surrounding condominium towers.
Workers from Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets were filling the 29,431-square-foot grocery Thursday with everything from fresh flowers to deli meats in preparation for Saturday's opening.
"It's big-time for downtown," said Darryl Hunt, a real-estate broker whose office on East Central Boulevard is right across the street from the new Publix, which is on the ground floor of the Paramount on Lake Eola condominium. "We're finally getting the infrastructure we need downtown to make it work."
Hunt said he expects to be grabbing lunch there and shopping for a few groceries at the end of his workday. The supermarket's long-awaited arrival also makes it easier for him and other brokers to market nearby condos and homes. Hunt recently started handing out green-canvas shopping bags -- similar to the reusable, eco-friendly bags Publix sells its customers -- with his "Downtown Darryl" real-estate logo on them.
"Sales downtown are picking up, and this will only help," he said of the grocery. Hunt said he has sold more than $1 million worth of downtown residential units in each of the past three months, mostly in nearby condo towers such as the Waverly, the Vue and the 17-story Paramount.
The new Publix features a number of distinctive urban elements in addition to the smaller-than-normal shopping carts.
There's a 140-space parking garage directly under the store, with access provided by elevators large enough for shoppers and shopping carts.
Residents of the 300-plus-unit Paramount have their own parking above the store, as well as a 24-hour doorman and a separate entrance to the market.
Slightly smaller stores
At less than 30,000 square feet, the store is about 30 percent smaller than a typical suburban Publix -- but slightly larger than the chain's other urban locations, such as the store a couple of miles away on East Colonial Drive
"It's one of a kind," which made for some design challenges, said Gregory West, senior vice president of the Paramount's developer-owner, Zom Florida Inc.
The store features all of the usual departments found in the larger supermarkets, including a deli, a bakery, and meat and seafood sections. It also has a pharmacy -- the only one in the heart of downtown. A sprawling dock area for loading and unloading has room enough inside for trucks to turn around, minimizing the need for maneuvers that could block surrounding streets.
Though not as large as a typical, 45,000-square-foot suburban market, the grocery has an airy, spacious look in part because of its 24-foot-high ceilings and upper-floor offices.
The store's display shelves are a bit taller than those in a typical Publix, a feature that allows the company to place more inventory on display, in part to offset limited backroom storage. Shoppers will also notice the art-deco-inspired glass front, which offers pedestrians a sweeping view of the grocery's interior.
Dwaine Stevens, a Publix spokesman, said the chain's stores typically draw customers from a 3-to-5-mile radius. With the recent opening of hundreds of residential units in condo and apartment towers nearby, the new market near Lake Eola has more than the usual number of potential customers within walking distance.
Drawing workers, residents
"It's going to be a mix of people," Stevens said. City-center locations tend to draw downtown office workers looking for a midday sandwich or salad, condo dwellers searching for easy-to-prepare meals, and families from nearby neighborhoods looking to stock up for the week.
Publix has plenty of experience with urban-core supermarkets.
The company, which operates more than 900 stores, has urban locations in Miami Beach, Miami and other Southeastern U.S. cities, including Atlanta. Its urban stores tend to stock more prepared meals and gourmet foods than the average location.
The last supermarket to operate in Orlando's city center was a Winn-Dixie on Rosalind Avenue that closed in 1980, according to the Orange County Regional History Center.
Orlando lawyer Roy Kobert, who lives and works downtown, said he expects to stop by the new Publix for a quick deli lunch or to grab a bag or two of groceries on the way home.
"I like to shop downtown," Kobert said.
"I bought my Mini [automobile] in part because it's located downtown. I'm looking forward to having a convenient shopping alternative."
