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Food

Jolly green giant

Publix is joining South Tampa's natural-foods scene. Does the thought of a GreenWise Market have independent grocers quaking in their Birkenstocks?

By SHARON GINN
Published June 8, 2007

Maggie Wyatt has shopped every week at Whaley's Market for years. Whaley's is only about two blocks south of the future three-story GreenWise Market.
	[Times photo: Daniel Wallace]

SOUTH TAMPA - When Publix won approval last fall to build a 39, 000-square-foot store in SoHo, there was no mention that the company would use the new site to muscle its way into an organic and natural foods scene that already was ... well, healthy.

But the Lakeland-based grocery giant plans to do just that, announcing in February that the new store at Armenia Avenue and Azeele Street will not be a regular Publix but a GreenWise Market, focusing almost exclusively on natural and organic foods. It's a new concept for the company, but not for South Tampa.

Several independent grocers are within a few miles. Whaley's Market, the Village Health Market and Nature's Harvest Market focus on fresh, natural or organic foods. National chains Wild Oats and Fresh Market are also nearby. GreenWise is expected to open in late 2008 or early 2009. It is scheduled to be the company's fourth GreenWise Market, named after Publix's private label of goods that are either organic, all natural or environmentally friendly.

The first GreenWise will open this fall in Palm Beach Gardens; others are planned for Boca Raton, Vero Beach, Naples and Coral Springs.

Having a larger player like Publix move in could mean tough times for independent grocers, said Lorrie Griffith, editor of the Shelby Report, a publication serving the supermarket industry.

"That's the struggle for the small retailers in the organics and natural foods" market, Griffith said. "They need the (right) price point and enough different items to keep people coming."

***

The trend toward natural and organic foods is nationwide and growing, with no signs of slowing down.

"Consumer confidence in food sources is at an all-time low, " Griffith said. "People are looking for more natural and organic (products). ... People are incorporating these items into their grocery trips."

With the GreenWise stores, Publix is merely capitalizing on the trend, Griffith said. There seems to be room in the market for GreenWise to succeed, she said, but smaller competitors may have a harder time staying in business.

Whaley's Market, at 533 S Howard Ave., specializes in local produce, fresh meats and prepared foods. The longtime community grocery, which sits only about two blocks south of the planned GreenWise, already has felt the impact of bigger competition. Business is down about 10 percent since Fresh Market opened on Henderson Avenue in October, president Linda Whaley Bublitz said.

Bublitz expects that customers will keep coming for the meals that Whaley's employees prepare daily on site, like the lobster bisque, beef stew and seafood fettuccine that were on Sunday's menu. That part of the business has held steady since Fresh Market opened.

What won't help, she said, is any increase in traffic on Howard or Armenia. "Parking on Howard is always a problem, " Bublitz said. And "the road can't widen anymore."

Roni Levi, co-owner of Village Health Market, an organic foods store at 3225 S. MacDill Ave., said he's not worried. Independent grocers still have an important place in the market, he said.

His business, which opened two years ago, dropped off after Wild Oats opened in April 2006 on N Dale Mabry. But profits got back to normal after about six months, he said.

"(Publix did) their research, " Levi said. "They see the market is growing. That's the reason we decided to come to Tampa also. It might get to the point where it is too much, but right now it's not there."

***

By the time the GreenWise store is built, all the bickering last fall over the design of the store might seem like a distant memory.

It has been more than six months since Publix won approval to build on the site, after neighborhood debates about traffic, construction messes and where to put the store's parking.

Still, a tall chain-link fence surrounding the property remains the only sign that changes are on the way. Publix is in the permitting process, spokeswoman Shannon Patten said, and it's too early to pin down a construction start date.

The approved exterior design of the store hasn't changed. The actual store will be on the bottom floor with two levels of parking above.

Shoppers will take carts to their cars using either oversized elevators or a "vertical transportation system" similar to an escalator, Patten said.

Not only will the store be almost all "green, " it will have a large section devoted to prepared foods where shoppers can pick up meals to go, most of them made on-site from scratch. Those offerings are still undetermined but might include slow-cooked meats, ethnic foods and an extensive salad bar, Patten said.

"We're committed to serving the lifestyles and needs of our customers, " Patten said. "With the rising awareness of health issues, many people are looking for healthier choices. It's a popular category for everybody."

***

Some aren't so sure another health food store is necessary.

"I kind of feel like the Publix (GreenWise) is redundant, " SoHo resident Greta Brooks said as she shopped at Whaley's for meats and vegetables last weekend with her 3-year-old son. "We have Fresh Market around the corner. Sweetbay (on Swann Avenue) has a giant organics section."

But others, including SoHo resident Rita Vasquez, disagree. The more choices, she said, the better.

"I think it's a wonderful idea, " she said. "The Publix quality is so fresh and good."

Vasquez said she lives close to the planned GreenWise but isn't worried about an increase in traffic.

"I think it's inevitable, " she said. "I've been here all my life and I've seen a lot of changes."

[Last modified June 7, 2007, 14:10:20]