Will this be Florida’s first Amazon Fresh grocery store? What we know about a mystery

There could be a new national grocery player coming to the Gulf Coast of Florida, even though the parent company won’t say one way or the other.

Amazon Fresh seems to have earmarked the Cortez Commons shopping center in the Bradenton area for a future store. The grocery could be the first Amazon Fresh store in Florida.

For several years, Cortez Commons has been billed as the future home of a “new national credit grocery chain.”

Work on the grocery space in recent months has all the trappings of an Amazon Fresh store, including the design of the 12-panel windows, the dark gray facade and the green paint on the entrance overhang. All that’s missing is the company’s official branding.

The Tampa Bay Times found a similar storefront that matches Amazon Fresh’s unique design but remains unopened. That store is in Safety Harbor, the news outlet reported in November.

But we didn’t want to just speculate about whether an Amazon Fresh was coming to Bradenton, so we reached out to those who know.

A landlord for the shopping center previously told the Bradenton Herald that he can’t divulge the grocer, leaving that to the tenant to make the announcement when ready.

Recent building permits filed with the city of Bradenton also revealed few details about the grocery store.

MORE: Publix is opening 4 Florida stores in April, including the Miami area. Let’s take a look

Is Amazon Fresh coming to Florida?

Jessica Martin, an Amazon spokesperson, responded in an email that she didn’t have information to share on specific stores but offered a statement:

“We’ve invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year, offering a better overall shopping experience with more value, convenience, and selection — and so far we’ve seen positive results, with higher customer shopping satisfaction scores and increased purchasing,” Martin said.

“We’ve also heard from customers that while they enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view their receipt as they shop, and know how much money they saved while shopping throughout the store,” she added.

“To deliver even more convenience to our customers, we’re rolling out Amazon Dash Cart, our smart-shopping carts, which allows customers all these benefits including skipping the checkout line,” Martin said.

Amazon Fresh stores are in California, Illinois, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington state, New Jersey and Washington, DC.

New grocery store technology

Amazon Dash Cart is replacing Just Walk Out in U.S. stores but will continue to be offered in Amazon Go stores, the smaller format Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, as well as third-party retailers.

Amazon Dash Cart lets customers skip the checkout line. Shoppers scan the QR code on their Amazon app. A combination of computer vision and sensor fusion helps identify items placed in the cart. Shoppers grab an item, scan it on one of the Dash Cart cameras, and place it in the cart like they normally would.

Customers can scan, shop, and see how much they are spending in real-time. When done shopping, they can skip the checkout by going through the Dash Cart lane.

Amazon is also installing self-checkout. Assisted checkout will continue to be an option as well.

“Our goal is to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience—whether shopping in store or online—where Amazon is the first choice for selection, value, and convenience. We already have a large online grocery business and millions of products available for fast delivery, and the next step is to continue building out our physical presence—which will require significant innovation and persistence,” Martin said.

“We’ll continue to open new Whole Foods Market stores, and will do so selectively with Amazon Fresh as we see results we like. We’re encouraged by early signs of our new store design in Chicago and Southern California, and will proceed adaptively,” Martin said.

CEO comments on grocery expansion plans

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy addressed grocery sales during the fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 1.

“On grocery, we’re pleased with the progress we’re making there. If you want to serve as many grocery needs as we do, you have to have a mass physical presence. And that’s what we’ve been trying to do with Fresh over several years,” Jassy said.

We’ve been testing version two of our Fresh format in a few locations near Chicago, in a few locations in Southern California. It’s very early, it’s just a few months in, but the results thus far are very promising and on almost every dimension. And so we need to see it for a little bit longer time, but the results appear like we have something that’s resonating. And if we continue to see that then the issue becomes how fast and what’s the best way to expand,” Jassy said.

Bradenton area is a grocery magnet

The Bradenton area has been a growth hot spot for groceries, including Publix with 20 stores, Aldi with six stores, home-grown Detwiler’s with six stores in Manatee-Sarasota, and The Fresh Market, which will open its third Manatee County store in Lakewood Ranch on Wednesday.

Winn-Dixie, which was acquired by Aldi in 2023, has five stores in Manatee County.

A newcomer to the area, Sprouts, Farmers Market opened its first Bradenton store in 2023.

In addition, two new Target stores are coming to Manatee County, along with the county’s first Whole Foods store.