Plans for family-owned specialty grocer Freshfields Farm to put a store in southeastern Apopka are advancing, while Walmart has bought land for a possible store in the northern part of the city.
The Apopka Planning Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the major development and construction site plans for the Freshfields Farm store at 1819 Armando Borjas Jr. Way.
Derek Wagner, Freshfields’ director of customer service and communications, told GrowthSpotter on Wednesday that the company expects to have the 17,500-square-foot store open by mid-2027.
Because Freshfields has stores in Orlando and Jacksonville, Wagner said it made sense to bring the company’s commitment to offering the highest quality and freshest meat and produce to Apopka.
“We think there’s a lot of people in that area that would be interested in what we have to offer,” he said. “A lot of other retailers are tending to shy away from producing fresh meat on site (and) dealing with fresh produce.”
“We feel like that is where we excel and what our customers tend to be interested in. They’re looking for something that was received that day, cut that day, wrapped that day and put in the case that day.”
Wagner said Freshfields doesn’t call itself a supermarket because it doesn’t operate like one. It has no distribution, processing or packaging centers because all of that work is done in store, he said, getting it out to the customer faster by eliminating a layer of distribution.
He said if a person can buy a prepackaged item with a barcode in a big-box store, such as Walmart, then it’s not something Freshfields is likely to stock. The stores don’t sell the nonperishables found at chains like Walmart.
Fresh produce awaits customers in the Freshfields Farm store in Orlando at 400 Compton St. The company is planning to open a store in Apopka by mid-2027. (Courtesy of Freshfields Farm)
And speaking of Walmart, the new Freshfields store will be across the street from one. But Wagner said that’s not a bad thing because it helps show the differences between the stores.
“They do a great job at so many things (and) they do a decent job with their fresh produce, but our produce buyers are buying a more premium product,” he said. “We feel like even the items we carry are going to be different than Walmart, setting freshness aside.”
Freshfields started in 1973 as a small meat market in Orlando named Momm’s Meats Popp’s Produce, according to the company’s website. That store, located on Delany Avenue in Orlando’s SoDo District, expanded several times over the years and in 2008 changed its name to Freshfields Farm. A Jacksonville location was added in 2013 and expanded in 2016.
The land where the Apopka store is planned was bought in 2021 for $1.7 million by Apopka 3 LLC, an entity tied to Freshfields CEO David DeLoach.
A new Walmart store?
Walmart recently bought about 45 acres of vacant land at 3951 W. Kelly Park Rd. in Apopka, located about a half mile west of the interchange with State Road 429 (Wekiva Parkway).
Wal-Mart Stores East of Bentonville, Ark., paid Golden Gem Investments of Tampa about $21.2 million in a deal that closed Jan. 9, according to county records.
The land is west of Wyld Oaks, a 230-acre, master-planned community set to include about 6,000 residential units, 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space as well as an AdventHealth ER. The community will even feature a unique dog park.
When asked about plans for the property, Walmart corporate spokesperson Mariel Messier said: “We’re always looking for opportunities to grow and serve our customers. We don’t have any information to share about this, right now.”
Amer Hamza, a planner with the city of Apopka, said Walmart hasn’t filed any plans yet, although one of its stores is expected to go on the property.
“It’s a store (but) they haven’t said what it’s going to be, but it is going to be commercial in that area,” Hamza said. “All that has been are preliminary talks. It’s just a site plan for big retail.”
County records show the property last sold in 2023 for $7.3 million and has been vacant since at least 1987. The property is currently zoned (MU-VC) – KPI Village Center, which stands for Mixed Use-Village Center Kelly Park Interchange.
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.