Delayed since April, Avalon Park food hall set to open Saturday
The Marketplace at Avalon Park food hall is expected to have a grand opening on Saturday.
The 7,500-square-foot hall at 3801 Avalon Park East Boulevard in east Orange County will feature nine eateries, an indoor and outdoor bar from Bowigens Beer Company, and a general store selling wine and products made by artisans.
The grand opening will be from noon to 8 p.m., and after that hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
The restaurants are: Rosso Specialty Coffee, Sip ‘N Roll, Cheese to Share, Pico de Gallo, KBBQ Kitchen, NOLA Avalon Park, Brazas Chicken, LemonShark Poke and BBQ50.
The food hall was slated to open in April but was delayed with supply issues being the largest cause of its postponement.
It wasn’t the only one to face this problem: The Hall on the Yard in Orlando’s Ivanhoe Village was pushed back from a spring opening to September for similar reasons.
Publix expands to Kentucky
Publix is expanding beyond the seven states where it currently operates to Kentucky.
A 55,702-square-foot store in Lousiville is expected to open during the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a news release revealing the company had signed a lease there.
The Lakeland-based grocer has more than 1,280 stores in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
“Moving into Kentucky is a natural progression for our company, and we are excited to serve and be a part of this vibrant community,” CEO Todd Jones said in the release.
The Kentucky store will also have an adjacent Publix Liquors, the first outside Florida.
The release added Publix is “looking forward to growing within the commonwealth and in its current operating area.”
In Orlando, Publix is expected to open a new store in the Packing District development just northwest of downtown Orlando. It also opened a location this year in a former Lucky’s Market on Orange Avenue south of downtown Orlando and just south of another of its stores.
Publix has about 125 stores in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Volusia counties.
The employee-owned company’s sales in the quarter ending June 26 were $11.8 billion, up from $11.4 billion the year before.
MedMen opens near UCF
Medical marijuana retailer MedMen has opened a dispensary near the University of Central Florida.
The 5,500-square-foot store is at 11551 University Boulevard. It sells vaporizers, concentrates, pre-rolls, topicals and flower, according to a news release.
“Florida continues to be one of our most exciting areas for growth,” CEO Tom Lynch said in a news release. “Not only is the patient population growing in the country’s third largest state, but we believe the patients of Florida can be better served with our differentiated MedMen products.”
MedMen opened a store on International Drive in 2019, but the company’s website states the location is “temporarily closed.”
There were 607,132 qualified patients for medical marijuana in Florida as of Sept. 3, up from 409,642 around the same time last year, according to the Office of Medical Marijuana Use.