Michele LaBute of Bonita Springs asked via email on Monday:
What is the latest news on the opening of the new Oakes Farm Market on Immokalee and Livingston roads?
It may not be a surprise to anyone that Oakes Seed to Table is not opening on time.
But it's not from lack of trying. You can feel the magic starting to happen in there, as some of our new photos show.We're a lot closer than we've ever been to seeing this store debutafter years of starts and stops.
Oakes Farms Inc.purchased the former Albertson's supermarket and its 7-acre lot at 4835 Immokalee Road in North Naples for $5 million in 2014. Well-documented by the Naples Daily News, the initial plans called for opening in 2015, and it was delayed to 2016. Then it was 2017, and then 2018 as motorists drove by the nearly completed exterior shell.
More In the Know:
This time, dozens of workers donning hard hats are in thereevery day, hammering away. General Manager Dan St. Martin said he'sforging aheadtoward filling 500 positions, with about twice that many applying at job fairs and online in October.
As a columnist drove up to the hypermarket the other day, Spanish-speaking radio blareda commercial inviting applicants. Inside, St. Martin and several staff members sorted through boxes and boxes of applications.
Oakes had set this week for its opening. The goal now is Dec. 2 or sooner. Not hanging my hat on that one either. But it doesn't matter.
Whenever the doors finally open, St. Martin promises "the Disney World of grocery stores."
Even as bushed as St. Martin has to be during this full-court press toward the opening, you hear the excitement in his voice as he described the recent six-hour ordeal of stuffing a 30-foot tree through the front doors, squeezingit by stairs and plantingit in the middle of the market.
A bigger challenge, though, and a factor in the latest delay,has been the work finishing the employee parking across the street from where employeeswill be shuttled back and forth. At one point, there was talk of a bridge over Livingston, but with factors—such as a $2.5 million price tag for Oakes—that's not in the plans for now.
Leading up to the latestsurge of construction, St. Martin has made the rounds around the community including homeownerboards to tout the project. Prior to that, he was part of a nation-trotting team that "traveled allover the place (to) come up with the vision."
The goal, hence the Seed to Table mantra, is for everything to be made from scratch. The ice cream, for example, will be made on site—not from a mix.
The store, spanning about 75,000 square feet, will be packed with a variety of retail service departments, chopped up into dozens of stations as customers make their way through an adventure in shopping.
St. Martin usedthe Disney analogy. I've said before it feels a bit like Willie Wonka from the 1970 similarly named film.
Pastries. Homemade Candy. Smoothies. Children's playground. Cafe. A major wine selection.Flowers. Aquarium. Six-hundred gallons of lobster. Giant fish hanging from on high. And lotsmore than that including the true seed that led to this point in the Oakes business the Daily News has previously chronicled: Produce.
Also look for free doughnuts and coffee from Oakes, which is stuck witha decade-plus Dunkin' Donuts outparcel lease that came with the land purchase.
Fifth Avenue openings keep coming
► Naples-based art consulting firm Emillions Art has quietly set up shop in a 2,000-square-foot showroom on Fifth Avenue South, according to owner Marlissa Gardner.
With more than 30 years experience in the art industry, Gardner founded Emillions Art to help clients find artwork to fill their esthetic or design needs and help experienced collectors expand their existing collections.
Although Gardner is not officially opening until January, she will introduce Emillions Art’s new space at 837 Fifth Ave.S., Suite 202, by hosting two Art & Design receptions on Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30 until 7:30 p.m. both days.
“Emillions Art is a global resource for art, design and creative collaboration and bringing accomplished artists to FifthAvenue South,” said Bruce BaroneJr., executive director of the 5th Avenue South Business Improvement District (BID).
► In past columns, I've showcased the rich diversity that makes Collier County such a great place to live. This is illustrated again through a new business by the Verner family who moved to Naples last year from Prague,Czech Republic.
In the Know:Some new places opening in Collier owe their origins to immigrants
“We want to bring a little bit of Old Prague to Southwest Florida,” said The Monarch Galleryowner Jaja Verner, who's showcasing Bohemian crystal, chandeliers, baroque garnet jewelry, marionettes, history art paintings inspired by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and more.
Verner and her husband, Andrew, combined the former spaces ofLady from Haiti and Tropic Real Estate to create their1,200-square-foot art gallery at612 FifthAve. S., adjacent to Naples Soap Company.
"It was very hard and took a long time to get this space, but we are finally here and we are very excited and grateful," Jaja Verner said. "We love it here."
Something to 'Czech' out.
Wait, was that last line bad?
Yes, in the accented, slowly spoken words of voodoo-practicing Latin player Pedro Cerrano in the movie"Major League",it was "very, very bad."
► The wonderful diversity continues with the blending of Mexicaninfluences with Italy.
Managers Alfonso and Yuliana Magana have opened Italian chefStefano Franceschi's Gelato &Co. Cremeria Italiana,483-2 FifthAve. S.
"Everything is made in house," Yuliana Magana said of the "all-natural" gelato, which is prepared from scratch daily and doesn't include "ready-made" ingredients,such as preservatives and artificial flavoring or colors. Dairy-free, fat-free and vegan are other options. And they have all types of other tasty treats.
Until opening in Houston earlier this year, Franceschi had focused on exotic places for his seven-store chainincluding the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, Panama and Aruba. So Texas, know that while Naples is the second spoton the continental U.S, it is the first exotic locationin the states. All 1,600 square feet of it.
► Already previously reported by my colleague Laura Layden,Bluemercuryis also among the latest to unleash its beauty on Fifth.
Read:With other businesses, Bluemercury finds a pretty spot on Fifth Avenue South
To unveil what it has to offer, theretailer known for itscurated selection of makeup and skincare has planned a "holiday shopping party" at 505-A FifthAve S. from Dec. 5 to 14.
Read:Fifth Avenue South evolving with new projects, mix of tenants
Innovation Hotel update
The Innovation Hotel, slated to open in December off Immokalee Road and U.S. 41 inNaples, is scheduled to host ajob fair Wednesday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The 169-room hotel, on the Arthrex medical campus,is looking to hire morethan 75 full- and part-time employees to serve the visiting surgeons and other Arthrex guests who will stay there.
Read:Arthrex moving along on its expansion project in North Naples
Jobs include housekeeping, culinary,human resources, information technology, accounting and engineering.
The event is planned for theNaples Conference Center,1455 Pine Ridge Road.
Digital highlights
In case you missed it on naplesnews.com, here are a few of our In the Know updates from the past week.
House hunters stats
No question, many want to move to or within Collier County,
The latest Naples Area Board of Realtorsmarket numbers show a 31% increase in showings in September as compared to the previous year.
"With an average of 17.4 showings per listing, agents stayed busy this summer,” said Jeff Jones, broker at Keller Williams Naples.
They're doing a lot of looking, but are they buying?
Oh yes, they did.
In the Know questions:Did home sales rise?
Study:Paying rent in Naples, Cape Coral metros getting tougher
Collier enjoyed another 7%increase in overall closed home sales for the third month in a row, according to NABOR data that excludes Marco Island.
And thissuggests another trend, according to Adam Vellano, broker analyst and west coast sales manager for BEX Realty - Florida.
The consistent uptick in summer home sales illustrates Collier County is becoming less seasonal, Vellano said.
Traditionally, the coming months bring the home-buying flurry as the northern snow drives our winter residents and visitors south.
The September report showed median closed prices remained stable during the third quarter of July, August and September. In fact, they haven't deviated much in 2019. The $325,000 forJanuary is the same as the most recent month. That’s downfrom September 2018, when it was $327,408.
Searching for Popeyes sandwiches
I know how much you love Popeyes. You've made that abundantly clear. Keep the mail coming, but before writing, could you contain your excitement enough to use thosetiny moist towelettes they give ya? Greasyfingerprintsall over the envelopes.
The poultry buzz from the Naples location opening two months ago at 11899 Collier Blvd. is still evident. This past week, readers sharing stories on the Naples Daily News Facebook page mentioned up to a 45-minute wait in line at certain times.
More:Long lines but the love continues at the new Popeyes
So I checked with Popeyes last week on itsglobal announcement regarding the return of that $3.99 spicy chicken sandwich most of you missed out on in August. Many of you feel we get shorted down here whenever these national campaigns occur.
Like that darn McRib. (Checked with McDonald's again the other day and the nearest ones continue to be in Charlotte County. What makes Charlotte so special? Well, it has the McRib. Kind of ends there).
Oh yeah, back to what I was saying. So I checked with Popeyes franchisee District Manager Kanchana Alix, and she assures me that Southwest Florida is going to be part of this next chicken sandwich round, which started around the country over the weekend.
Since you'll be there a while, you'll have time to look around to see who'sin line with you.
Datafrom Fast Company magazine and Numerator, amarketintelligencefirm, found that 43% of the chicken sandwich buyers last time were Gen-Xers.
The rest:
♦ baby boomers,32%;
♦ millennials at 20%;
♦ Gen Z at 3.3%; and
♦ seniors at 1.8%.
Numerator also found that 46% of the purchasersearned more than $80,000 a year.
A hefty bite of the sandwich folks — 24% — live alone.
No toasts forThe Wine Loft
The owners who suddenlyshut down The Wine Loft at the Mercato this past week ended their surprise goodbyenote on the front glass door with, "Cheers!"
Trust me, their employees weren't doing that. They report finding out Monday morning they were unexpectedly out of their restaurant jobs, courtesy of Michael and Sarah Kearney, who had run the place for seven years.
"I was the GM there until Monday," said Naples resident Michael George, who shared his observations on Facebook."We had the biggest week and weekend since June only to walk in (Monday) at 9:30 a.m, and be told he sold the restaurant and everyone was let go."
The Kearneys said in their note that the movewould allow them “to relocateto North Carolina,”and that Mercato would have a replacement for the Suite 8150 space at 9118 Strada Place in North Naples.
Public records obtained from the state show the Kearneys already had procured a North Carolina address. They changed mailing information on SCM I Investments, through which they ran the Loft, back in June, government documents show.
June is when George said he was hired, and he built anew staff but said he was stymied in attempts by the owners to market, advertise and make needed updates.
And George said he and the staff were monitored around the clock from North Carolina through 17 video cameras installed on the premises.
We reached out to MichaelKearneyin Greensboro, North Carolina, to see if hecoulduncoil the reel towhat suddenly happened. Besides asking how we were able to obtain his contact information, Kearney providedbrief thoughts.
“We did not sell the business,” Kearneysaid, adding that he may have more to say in the future.“Incooperation with the Mercato, we have agreed to release our space for a new tenant.”
No new word from Mercato at this point.
Two local couples. One localpharmacy.
Two entrepreneurial couples are defying the odds and pushing against the trend of big box/large chain pharmacies.
They're loco for local, and personalization is the name of the game:PharmacyGO officially launchedin Estero over the weekend after initially conducting an Oct. 15 soft opening.
So how are they different?
"PharmacyGO is about feeling like you're a part of an exclusive family. That's why wedecided to call our patients, 'members,'" said Estero resident Kristi Lamoncha, one of the two "concierge" pharmacists, who both worked for Walgreens. "We want them to feel relaxed, importantand taken care of. I think that is what makes us unique."
More:In the Know: Sad scenes of Winn-Dixie closing
At this point, there are two membership levels:
► The free stage offers, for example, next-day delivery.
► Go Family Plus, for $49.95 a month, includes numerous services, such as same-day delivery, discounts anda monthly medication review with a pharmacist.
PharmacistMo Amer's the one who got the ball rolling toward an independent apothecarythat would provide "healthier medicine for people on the go."
Amer had moved to Naples from Philadelphia to work for Walgreens, but he wasn't comfortable with the "corporate" nature of the public service he was trying to provide.Hedecided he would need a strong colleague in the industry to help him grow his organic-based concept.
He approached Lamoncha, a fellowLake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine classmate and graduate who's originally from Youngstown, Ohio.
"If you want to go fast, go alone,"Amer said. "If you want to go far, go together."
The rest of the four-member team is Amer's wife, Nadean, the marketing director, andLamoncha's husband, Brandon, the sales consultant.
They said they accept all major insurance, but insurance isn't necessary to receive their services. Meds for pets are also available.
The quartetset up shop at20041-13 S.Tamiami Trail, just south of Estero Parkway and across the street from that TerraCap Way I wrote about earlier this week.Hours:Monday throughFriday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.;Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
More In the Know:What's up with TerraCap Way, Sprouts? Also, Naples Bay Club's renovation.
"We chose this location becauseEstero is growing, and we could tell this specific corner was going to boom," Nadean Amer said. "It's a beautiful area and a central location for delivery. New businesses were being built, and a whole new community was under construction. It felt like Estero was ready to experience something new."
Hmmm. Perhaps new for Estero, but a hometown locally owned pharmacy sure does sound familiar, like the pre-historic days of the 20th century—and there's definitely everything right about that.
Some continue to operate. At least nine of them are within a 10-mile radius of Estero, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association, which was founded in 1898.
So I was wrong. At the very least, it's a19th century notionthat still works.
Phil Fernandez writes In the Know for the Naples Daily News. You've provided hundreds of questions, ideas and emails, and I'm doing my best working through the stack. Keep them coming to pfernandez@gannett.com.
