Earth Fare's 2nd Chance - Earth Fare (Novel Lucerne/SoDo) - Orlando, FL

Today we're taking a look at a rare thing in retail- an at least semi-successful brand revival! Earth Fare initially collapsed in early 2020, only shortly after Lucky's Market did the same. However, Earth Fare was able to swing a team of North Carolina investors to keep the brand afloat, and so the brand began a relatively quiet revival, slowly reopening stores that hadn't since been folded into competing grocery chains.

However, before we get into the photos, we'll delve into this store's history. Or, since this store was new built, this site's history. The site Earth Fare now calls home was originally a parking lot for Orlando Health's Lucerne Pavilion, a 174-bed hospital facility which was closed in 2013, and quietly demolished not long thereafter. A few more years would pass, and by 2018, construction was well underway for a new apartment complex named Novel Lucerne.

And what better to anchor the bottom floor of your fancy new apartments- (starts at $1533 for a studio, if you're curious)? A fancy new grocery store! Earth Fare held their grand opening here on March 20, 2019, lasting less than a year before operations ceased in February 2020. And then, slightly over a year later, Earth Fare reopened on April 24, 2021, bringing us to today.

We'll start our journey from the attached parking garage, which seems to be mostly, if not entirely, reserved for Earth Fare.

Swinging to our left, we can go through the parking garage entrance, which actually functions as the store's main entrance, with outside foot traffic directed towards here. If I had to guess, it'd be because despite having a "downtown", Orlando never really gets that dense, with the city tapering off into detached homes and low rise apartments past this new development, so foot traffic is minimal.

Turning right upon entering the store, we can look towards a rather nice looking local coffee display, contrasted with the rather sad, half empty pineapple display in the foreground.

Turning back to our right, we get a look at the bulk foods section, which occupies the right wall. Something you'll notice, now that we have a full view of the decor- is that it's exactly the same as old Earth Fare. As far as I can tell, when Earth Fare closed, they sold all their fixtures too, but these reopened store is seemingly identical in decor.

Continuing our circuit of the store, we make our way to main meat & seafood counters, featuring some colorful signage on a faux-corrugated iron backing. I'll note that I really don't care for the polished concrete here; I think it really conflicts with the rest of the store. 

Dairy occupies a series of coolers along the back wall, with cursive department signage set against wood cladding.

We'll throw in our courtesy aisle pic with this shot of Aisle 3, showing the aisle markers that are uniquely mounted to the sides of the endcaps.

Something you may notice through these photos is that the store is pretty.... empty. Now I will confess that 3:30 on a Sunday isn't exactly a hopping time frame, but I was about 1 of 5 people in the store, including a seemingly lone employee.

Finally swinging around to the left corner of the store, we'll see the Cheese signage that finishes off the back dairy wall, and the beginnings of the Bakery/Kitchen area.

Earth Fare's stores always named their kitchen areas, equivalent to a hot foods/deli/sandwich counter, as <City> Kitchen. Disappointingly, this one just says Orlando Kitchen, instead of something more neighborhood specific like SoDo, which would have been a neat touch.

Pulling slightly back, we can see the salad bar, still open and intact. 

Finishing off our photoset, we'll take a look at another standard Earth Fare feature, the Heirloom Juice Bar. Ironically, the sign on the counter says "Juice Bar, Now Open!", but since there seemed to be only one employee in the store, there was nobody staffing any of the prepared foods counters, only enhancing the store's empty feel.

All in all, while the store was very nice, I'm not sure I have high hopes for it's long term survival. While the store is very nice and very clean, they're just not pulling in the customers. As mentioned, I was one of maybe 6 people total in the store, and looking at recent Google reviews, many of them complain about expired food and low stock, topped off with very high prices. Now, in an extremely urban setting, that may not necessarily even be an issue, as in those settings, convenience can transcend price and quality. But Orlando is incredibly suburban, everyone has a car, and so heavy competition from full size grocers is heavy.

With that, until next time. this has been Cape Kennedy Retail. Until next time!