Whole Foods Market opens at 8 a.m. today, Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7295 SR 64 East in The Marketplace at Heritage Harbour. It is the first Whole Foods in Manatee County and the 40th in Florida. Until today, the Bradenton Herald noted, the closest store for county residents was the one near the University Town Center mall. Sephora opens a few doors down tomorrow.
The two openings change what kind of plaza this is. For years The Marketplace was a Costco and Target center, where you went for bulk paper towels, a Target run, and a steak dinner afterward. From this week on it also covers the specialty errands: a fishmonger, a cheese counter, a beauty store. Those used to mean a drive south.
Thursday at 7295 SR 64 East
The store is 42,000 square feet and keeps regular hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, according to the Whole Foods Market opening announcement dated Oct. 6, 2026. Opening morning comes with a few perks:
- Doors open at 8 a.m. That's the same time as every other day.
- Coffee and juice from Buddy Brew Coffee and Urban Remedy for people in line.
- The first 300 customers get a limited-edition Bradenton tote bag and a Secret Saver coupon worth up to $100 off.
- Grocery Pickup starts shortly after opening, not on day one.
The store is also marking the opening with food and cash donations to Good Neighbors. That food rescue group already picks up surplus food from local Whole Foods stores, and it got a refrigerated van through the company's Nourishing Our Neighborhoods program. Once this store is part of that pickup route, the surplus has a much shorter drive to the people it feeds.
The store sits close to the plaza entrance, beside the new Chick-fil-A. If you've driven past the construction fencing at the front of the lot all year, this is the building behind it.
A shelf stocked from Florida
Most of what's on the shelves you could buy at any Whole Foods. What sets this one apart is the share of Florida products. The company says the Bradenton store carries more than 450 items from more than 115 Florida suppliers, chosen with help from Dustin Kennedy, its forager for local and emerging brands. Here is where they show up, department by department:
| Department | Florida names on the shelf |
|---|---|
| Produce and grocery | Lion Farms lion's mane mushrooms, Sunset Salsa, 305 Squeezed juice, Gelatys gelato pops, La Gringuita Gourmet Cookies |
| Seafood | Cedar Key Seafarms littleneck clams, Key West Smoked Fish Co. dips, a local fresh fish selection that changes daily |
| Meat | Adams Ranch Natural Beef |
| Cheese and specialty | Mozzarita hand-pulled mozzarella, Gables Delight jams, Norman Love Confections chocolates |
| Beer | Green Bench Brewing Co., Tampa Bay Brewing Co., Coppertail Brewing Co. |
| Bakery | Momma's Baked Goods dulce de leche and flan, Simply Delicious Bakers rugelach and challah |
| Wellness and beauty | RSP Nutrition TrueFit protein, Lolablue soap, Acure skin and hair care |
A Florida craft six-pack or a box of Norman Love chocolates for a dinner party now comes from the same lot as the Costco run. The beer selection runs to 250 craft beers, next to more than 650 wines.
The prepared foods counter matters most on a weeknight. It has hot and salad bars on a rotating menu, pizza by the slice or the whole pie, a Market Sandwich station, and sushi rolled fresh each day by Genji. In practice, the plaza now has a takeout dinner option between Miller's Ale House and LongHorn Steakhouse that you don't have to sit down for.
Friday adds Sephora, three doors from a Chick-fil-A that's three weeks old
Sephora's store page lists 7237 State Road 64 E. and announces a grand opening on Nov. 6, 2026. The store page also lists beauty services, so the location offers appointments as well as retail. Earlier this year the Bradenton Herald reported the space as a planned 5,000-square-foot unit.
Taken together, the street numbers show the plaza's front row filling in from the entrance outward:
- 7237 SR 64 E. Sephora, opening Friday, Nov. 6
- 7283 SR 64 E. Chick-fil-A, opened Thursday, Oct. 15
- 7295 SR 64 E. Whole Foods Market, opening Thursday, Nov. 5
The Chick-fil-A is open Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its local owner-operator is Jonathan Ith, who previously ran the Chick-fil-A in the Creekwood plaza off State Road 70, as the Bradenton Herald reported before the opening. The restaurant marked its opening with a $25,000 donation to Feeding Tampa Bay and joined the Chick-fil-A Shared Table program, which sends surplus food to local nonprofits.
So within three weeks, the corner of the lot nearest the entrance went from fenced pads to a breakfast drive-thru, a full-size specialty grocer, and a beauty store. Costco, Target, Academy Sports + Outdoors, Hobby Lobby, Cava, Miller's Ale House, and LongHorn Steakhouse were already open behind them.
Signed, under construction, no date yet
This week isn't the end of it. These businesses have been reported for The Marketplace but haven't announced opening dates:
- Lucky Goat Coffee Co. at 7227 State Road 64 E., Unit 104, per the Bradenton Herald.
- Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza, listed in the Herald's latest roundup as being built near the new openings.
- Fresh Kitchen at 7105 FL-64, announced over the summer.
- U-Yee Sushi & Grill II, which shares a five-unit building north of LongHorn Steakhouse with Fresh Kitchen, according to a leasing plan the Bradenton Herald described in May.
- Pure Green Juice Bar, slated for a four-unit building next to Whole Foods.
Coffee, a fast-casual kitchen, sushi, and a juice bar are smaller daily stops, and Pure Green's spot next to Whole Foods puts one right beside the grocer. The plaza is filling up with the short, frequent stops that used to mean a trip to the University Parkway corridor.
Across State Road 64, The Landing at Heritage Harbour fills in the rest. It's anchored by Aldi and reached from the signal at Heritage Green Way. Extreme Pizza opened its first Manatee County location there at 7839 State Road 64 E. Its building also lists Panera Bread, Perspire Sauna Studio, Prime IV Hydration, and Alloy Personal Training. Between the two plazas, one interchange now covers a discount grocer, a warehouse club, and a specialty grocer.
Getting there from east of I-75 this month
If you come from Waterlefe, River Club, Greenbrook, or anywhere out along Upper Manatee River Road, plan for the intersection of Upper Manatee River Road and SR 64. Manatee County is installing a 42-inch water main along Upper Manatee River Road between 10th Avenue East and SR 64. As of the county's Oct. 20 project update, a temporary traffic shift cuts northbound SR 64 traffic to a single left-turn lane and northbound Upper Manatee River Road, just south of SR 64, to one travel lane. Farther north, the county has planned a shift that moves traffic on Upper Manatee River Road between Waterlefe Boulevard and Port Harbour Parkway to the west side of the newly built roadway so crews can work on the east side. Daytime work runs Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
FDOT's District One roadwatch report expects the water main work to finish in late November. The county notes that schedules and traffic patterns can change with the weather, so check the Upper Manatee River Road project page before a weekday grocery run.
Until this week, the closest Whole Foods for people in 34212 was the one near UTC. Starting today it's at 7295 SR 64 East, next to the Costco. For people who live on that side of the river, that change, and the coffee, sushi, and juice tenants still signed to arrive, may matter more than any other opening this fall.
When a corner like I-75 and SR 64 adds this many daily stops, it also changes how close everyday shopping feels for the communities around it. If you're curious how the new Marketplace openings fit with homes in Heritage Harbour, Waterlefe, Greenbrook, or River Club, Tyler Hahne is happy to talk it through. Schedule a Consultation, in English or German, whenever it suits you.
