Manatee County's First Whole Foods Puts Lakewood Ranch's Weekly Errands on State Road 64

Near the State Road 64 entrance to The Marketplace at Heritage Harbour, close to the new Chick-fil-A, stands a 42,000-square-foot Whole Foods Market. Its opening was set for 8 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7295 State Road 64 E., and it is the chain's first store in Manatee County and its 40th in Florida. The Bradenton Herald put it "a stone's throw from the plaza's entrance near Chick-fil-A."

Costco and Target are in the same plaza. That puts a warehouse club, a big-box general store and a full natural-foods grocer around one parking lot just north of Lakewood Ranch. For anyone in the northern villages, a week's worth of errands that used to mean driving south toward University Parkway can now be done on State Road 64.

The old map ran down University Parkway

Before this store, Manatee County's two nearest Whole Foods locations were both in Sarasota County. According to the Bradenton Herald, the closest one for county residents was near the University Town Center mall.

The University Station store is still there, and for homes near UTC and The Isles it is still the closer one. The change is for everyone else. A household north of University Parkway now has a Whole Foods in the same plaza as its Costco run, rather than a separate trip in the other direction. What makes that plaza worth the drive is how much has opened around the grocery over the past three years.

What 42,000 square feet holds

Whole Foods says the Bradenton store will carry more than 450 Florida products from more than 115 Florida-based suppliers. The company's announcement names a good number of them, which says more about the shelves than the total does:

• Produce and pantry: lion's mane mushrooms from Lion Farms, salsa from Sunset Salsa, jams from Gables Delight
• Meat, seafood and dairy: Cedar Key Seafarms littleneck clams, Key West Smoked Fish Co. smoked-fish dips, Adams Ranch Natural Beef, Mozzarita mozzarella
• Sweets and bakery: Norman Love Confections chocolates, La Gringuita Gourmet Cookies, Gelatys gelato pops, dulce de leche and flan from Momma's Baked Goods, rugelach and challah from Simply Delicious Bakers
• Drinks: 305 Squeezed juice, plus beer from Green Bench Brewing Co., Tampa Bay Brewing Co. and Coppertail Brewing Co.
• Wellness and beauty: RSP Nutrition, Lolablue and Acure

The prepared-foods section is the part most likely to change a weeknight. It includes hot and salad bars, pizza by the slice or whole pie, a Market Sandwich counter and Genji sushi made daily. The beverage section lists more than 650 wines and 250 craft beers.

With a Costco in the same plaza, the two stores divide the work. Costco covers bulk paper goods and pantry stock. Whole Foods covers Florida clams, a sliced pie for Friday night and a bottle from the wine aisle. One stop now handles both kinds of shopping.

One parking field, built a season at a time

The Marketplace is an Edgewood Properties project, anchored by Costco. For years Costco mostly stood alone. Then the plaza started adding a major tenant almost every season:

Eight of those ten arrived in the past three years. The Bradenton Herald's October roundup also lists Panda Express among the tenants already open. Chick-fil-A's local owner-operator, Jonathan Ith, previously ran the Chick-fil-A in the Creekwood plaza off State Road 70, as the Herald reported.

Read the table as a list of errands. Groceries in bulk and specialty, household goods, crafts, sporting goods, a sit-down dinner at Seasons 52 or LongHorn, and a quick bowl at CAVA are all reachable without moving the car. Before November the plaza covered nearly everything except a natural-foods grocery. Whole Foods fills that gap.

The rest of State Road 64 is filling in too

The plaza isn't growing by itself. Along State Road 64, other openings point the same way.

Chipotle Mexican Grill recently opened at 16680 State Road 64 E. in the Northchase Center, farther east. It has a drive-thru pickup lane, and the Bradenton Herald reported that the Lakewood Ranch location is the company's 1,500th store with one. At 7839 State Road 64 E., in The Landing at Heritage Harbour, the California-based Extreme Pizza opened its first Manatee County location, serving gourmet pizzas, subs, calzones and salads.

There's more coming at the Marketplace itself. In late October, the Herald reported that Lucky Goat Coffee Co., Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza and Sephora were among several stores being built near Whole Foods. Its earlier report also listed Cold Stone Creamery and Qdoba Mexican Eats as future tenants.

Lucky Goat will add a coffee stop to the grocery run, and Sephora will add beauty to the plaza's mix. Once they're in, the errands that still pull people south to University Parkway will be a shorter list.

Planning a first visit

The store lists set hours and a straightforward location, and a few details help with the first trip:

1. Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, according to the Lakewood Ranch Beacon.
2. Finding it: Use the plaza's State Road 64 entrance. Whole Foods sits near the entrance and near Chick-fil-A at 7283 State Road 64 E.
3. Pickup: Whole Foods said grocery pickup would start shortly after opening, so check the store's page before counting on it for Thanksgiving week.
4. Pairing the stop: Costco, Target and Hobby Lobby are all in the same plaza, so a single trip can cover a holiday dinner's specialty items, bulk staples and table decorations.
5. Opening-week giving: Whole Foods planned food and monetary donations to Good Neighbors as part of the opening.

The timing works for the season. A store stocking Cedar Key clams, Norman Love chocolates and 650 wines is arriving three weeks before Thanksgiving, and it shares a plaza with Costco.

Knowing which stores share a parking lot matters well beyond grocery day. At Shanahan Luxury Group, we track how corridors like State Road 64 change the daily routine around each Lakewood Ranch village, because that routine is part of what a home is worth to the people who live in it. If you'd like to talk through how the northern corridor's growth affects your own plans, request a VIP Consultation.