Midtown Tampa's new Whole Foods opens next month
Whole Foods in Midtown Tampa

By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jun 9, 2021

Whole Foods Market Inc. will open its Midtown Tampa store on July 7.

The Amazon.com-owned specialty grocer, which is moving a store from nearby Walter Crossing shopping plaza to Midtown, announced the opening date Wednesday. As part of the opening day celebrations, Whole Foods will donate $5,000 to the Tampa Bay Network to End Hunger.

The new store is 48,000 square feet, Whole Foods said, and will feature all of the items the grocer is known for: full-service meat and seafood counters, a large specialty cheese selection and a massive offering of products from Florida-based companies. Tampa Bay's Buddy Brew, Toffee to Go and Mother Kombucha are among the suppliers featured at the new store.

Whole Foods is Midtown's latest big name to open its doors; the Tampa area's first Shake Shack opened there Monday. Outdoors store REI has been open for months, and more retailers will open in the weeks ahead.

As a grocer, Whole Foods is one of Midtown's most important anchors: In the e-commerce era, a grocer still has the power to draw regular foot traffic to a retail property.

Whole Foods also has stores in the Tampa Bay area in Clearwater, Carrollwood and Sarasota; another is in the works in St. Petersburg. It has about 30 stores in Florida and represents a fraction of the Sunshine State's overall grocery markets. Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets Inc. and Walmart Inc. control the vast majority of Florida's grocery market. Kroger Co. recently expanded to Tampa by offering delivery from an Orlando fulfillment center.