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New shop will offer more than just fruit

Citrus Country Groves' Dade City store will also include citrus wines, honey, marmalade and candy.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published November 27, 2005

	[Times photo: Dan McDuffie]
	Workers grade oranges at the Citrus Country Groves packing plant in Dade City. The company's new store will open in December.

DADE CITY - The citrus shop going up along U.S. 301 at a former juice plant site recalls the old roadside stands of the 1930s and '40s.

When completed, the store will have a front porch with rocking chairs and a tin roof.

But the similarities to those rickety lean-tos end there.

Fruit shipper Citrus Country Groves, which has taken over the old Pasco Beverage plant, is set to open its new store in mid December. With nearly 4,000 square feet of retail space, there's room for more than just bushels of oranges.

Citrus Country moved earlier this year from its longtime location at Interstate 75 and State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel. The old store was a familiar site for travelers and snowbirds passing through Pasco County.

"Obviously, we're not right on 75 anymore, so we have to learn about our customer base," Citrus Country spokesman Joe Kennedy said.

A temporary shop is up and running in Citrus Country's offices. Packed into the small space are racks of Sunshine State T-shirts, magnets, shot glasses and mugs. Always popular are fudge alligators and coconut patty candies.

Under a red and white tent out front, women rotate the stock of navel oranges and ruby red grapefruit.

It's something of a scenery change for the stretch of highway north of downtown long dotted with industrial businesses.

"This area of Dade City is not known as a huge tourist attraction," Kennedy said. "So what we'd like to do is bring that hometown environment."

Instead of road-trippers, Kennedy said the new location is drawing antique shoppers from downtown Dade City. And it's not just tourists stopping in.

"We're starting to get all the locals coming to buy their fruit," he said.

For the season, Citrus Country has 20 extra employees working in the packing operation, housed in a former Pasco Beverage warehouse. The boom in fruit shipping hits Dec. 1, said Don Dueker, one of the Citrus Country partners.

The new store will carry a line of citrus wines in flavors such as orange, mango and key lime.

"All the wine is from Florida," he said.

Also in the line of homegrown products are marmalades, honey, candies and of course, fresh fruit.

Despite slower than hoped for progress on the retail store, orders for gift baskets are humming. Eight employees answer relentless phone calls in a former conference room, and many more orders come in every day by mail.

Armed with the mailing list of venerable Pinellas County citrus shipper Orange Blossom Groves, which closed in September, orders for gift baskets are double over last year. Citrus Country owner Jim Guedry and his partners also bought Orange Blossom's store on U.S. 19 in Clearwater.

For the season, Citrus Country has 20 extra employees working in the packing operation, housed in a former Pasco Beverage warehouse. The boom in fruit shipping hits Dec. 1, said Don Dueker, one of the Citrus Country partners.

Early in the season, they ship to commercial outlets up the East Coast. As Christmas approaches, most go to gift orders and fundraising groups up North who get the fruit at wholesale prices.

"In the wintertime, a fresh Florida orange is a good sale up there," Dueker said.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]