Zen’s Toyland has opened on the north side of S.R. 56, in the former location of Mattress One, between Mellow Mushroom and Chuy’s Tex-Mex.
This is the third Zen’s Toyland location, as the same owner has stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The large toy store has a great selection of fun and educational toys and games, everything from Globber scooters, Brio train sets and Wild Republic plush animals to Schleich dinosaur figures (photo above), Lego blocks, Green Toys trucks and “Bubble Glob” NeeDoh and so much more.
And, if you join the Zen’s Toyland Loyalty Program, you’ll get $10 off every $100 you spend in the store!
Zen’s Toyland is open every day except Sunday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (until 7 p.m. on Thurs. & Fri.). For more information, call (813) 949-5111, visit ZensToyalnd.com
Check out some of the latest KRATEs
Brew Bar La Creacion Express
Although, as we’ve been telling you, several additional former shipping containers at the KRATE Container Park are likely to open before the June 4 Grand Opening event, a couple of additional KRATEs have opened since our last issue.
I am definitely impressed with both the food and the desserts at the new La Creacion Express, which has a larger original bakery location on W. Hillsborough Ave. in Tampa. The Puerto Rican cuisine items include the Tripleta sandwich (with pork, ham and steak, American cheese and mayoketchup) and tender chicken or pork skewers (I ordered the zesty barbecue sauce on the side). La Creacion also offers a variety of empanadas (beef, chicken, pizza, octopus & shrimp), as well as desserts called quesitos (flaky pastry stuffed with cream cheese). Finish it all off with a Puerto Rican Medalla Light beer. For more info, call (813) 528-8163.
Speaking of great beers, the new Brew Bar at the KRATEs is a self-pour tap room with a rotating variety of 21 beers on tap, including locals like Big Storm Brewing Oatmeal Stout, and Tampa Bay Brewing Co. Reef Donkey, plus favorites like Stella Artois and Blue Moon, hard ciders, prosecco, red sangria, moscato and more.
For more information, visit “Brew Bar Wesley Chapel” on Facebook. — GN
MOJO FUSION: Although it wasn’t quite open when we went to press (it is open as you’re reading this), Jannah and I were fortunate enough to be able to attend the Friends & Family pre-opening of Mojo Fusion, the Latin Fusion restaurant owned by Luis Ledezma and his family. Ledezma, who has years of experience in the food business, is from Venezuela, but promises that his menu at the first restaurant he has owned also includes Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican and even Argentinian-style dishes on its smallish — but delicious — menu.
We got to sample the super-tasty Argentinian-style Choripan chorizo sandwich shown above (the chimichurri sauce is legit) and the Cuban nachos (plantain chips topped with shredded pork, chicharrones, melted cheese, pico de gallo, cilantro aioli and fresh chopped cilantro), as well as the “fantastica” house-made red sangria. For more info, call (813) 406-5385 or visit MojoGrillLatinFusion.com.
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MAEBERRY CO.: MaeBerry Co., the brainchild of Monica Russo, a Wesley Chapel resident who previously sold her baby clothes and accessories online only, opened the day before we went to press and I was so impressed with MaeBerry’s super-soft, breathable Hanlyn Collective Game-On bamboo pajamas that I bought a pair for my grandson Jackson (picture, right).
MaeBerry has lots of baby teethers, Itzy Ritzy diaper bags and so much more in one of the smallest spaces we’ve seen at the KRATEs that you really should check it out for yourself. For more information, visit MaeBerryCo.com or search “MaeBerry Co.” on Facebook.
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EL PRINCE MEDITERRANEAN: Continuing our ongoing tour of the newest KRATEs to open at The Grove, El Prince Mediterranean, which has only had locations in Middle Eastern destinations like Dubai and Qatar, has opened its first U.S. location right here in Wesley Chapel.
I’ve only sampled a couple of items at El Prince so far, but both the meat shawarma (photo; which is delicious, marinated sliced ribeye beef roasted with Middle eastern spices, topped with onions and tahini sauce that I had them put on the side) and the El Prince salad (with dice lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, onions and a savory vinaigrette dressing) were super yummy.
El Prince also offers shish kebab (cubes of marinated lamb) and shish tawook (cubes of marinated chicken) platters, kofta kebabs (grilled, seasoned ground beef) and a mixed grill of all three, plus bone-in grilled chicken and the specialty of the house — roasted lamb shank, and more.
For the full menu and more info, search “El Prince Restaurant” on Facebook or visit ElPrinceRestaurants.com.
Other KRATEs that were hoping to open by the time this issue reached your mailbox but will likely take a little longer to open are The Bacon Boss (one of our favorite local food trucks, with amazing burgers and more, opening its first actual restaurant) and Palani’s Hawai’i Noodles, both of which are now planning to open sometime later this month.
Other KRATE restaurants getting ready to open over the next couple of months include Ato Sushi Burritos & Poké Bowls, Tasty Ramen, Boba Mac’s Tea & Eat, Tacos el Patron, TJ’s Hot Dogs, Flipn’ Fries Factory, Bakery X, Cafe Zorba and more. — GN
Although a lot more signs announcing places set to open have gone up at the KRATE Container Park, the only additional restaurants to open by our press time are The Fry Room, El Prince Mediterranean Cuisine & Palani’s Hawai’i Noodles. Other new eatery signs that have gone up since November include SubZero Nitrogen Ice Cream, Chamo Bites Venezuelan Cuisine, Bakery X Authentically French, Flipn’ Fries Factory, Rhythm Pon Jamaican Cuisine, Bebo’s Cheesesteaks, Sugar Pop! and Café Zorba.
The KRATE Container Park, the long-awaited jewel of developer Mark Gold’s redevelopment of The Grove at Wesley Chapel, is really taking shape these days. On these pages is an update on all of the new signs that have gone up at KRATE since we told you about Provisions Coffee & Kitchen and the then-new Shake-A-Salad back in November.
We also showed you pictures of and/or mentioned all of the dining- and/or drinking-oriented establishments that had their signs up at that time — Café 365, La Creacion Express Puerto Rican Bakery, The Bacon Boss, Mojo Grill Latin Fusion, TJ’s Famous Hot Dogs, Tacos el Patron, Åto Sushi Burritos & Poke Bowls, Palani’s Hawai’i Noodles, Tasty Ramen, The Fry Room, Urban Sweets, Yummy Tablas, El Prince Mediterranean, Blush Wine Bar, Boba Macs Tea & Eat and The Fry Room.
We also mentioned the other places with signs up that weren’t about food or drink — Center Ed Education, Reset Natural Remedies, We Rock Rocks, SmartStart Market Space, Budget Blinds, The Rebellious Hippie and All Good Things Gifts.
As we went to press with this issue, the only additional KRATEs that had opened since November were The Fry Room (we’ve sampled not only owners Donny & Lori’s delicious apple cider donuts, but also their crispy chicken tacos and French fries — all excellent), All Good Things and El Prince, as everything from Covid to supply chain issues have not only delayed the construction, the complete shutdown of the few parking spaces around the open KRATEs have had many people thinking that none of them were open.
Here are all of the additional eateries coming soon that we found: SubZero Nitrogen Ice Cream, Chamo Bites Venezuelan Cuisine, Bakery X Authentically French, Flipn’ Fries Factory, Rhythm Pon Jamaican Cuisine, Bebo’s Cheesesteaks, Sugar Pop!, Brew Bar, Pisco Express Peruvian Chinese Fusion Food and Cafe Zorba.
We’ve also included some of the signs for new stores and boutiques we hadn’t mentioned before, such as The Toy Jungle, MaeBerry Co., 2 Extreme Tattoos, Grove Cigars, Katie Beth’s Boutique, Tonella’s Handpicked Flower Shop, Valiart Jewelry, Pup Protectors and the second Wesley Chapel location of Gadgets Emergency Room. Are you excited yet? — GN
There’s something about staring longingly out your window while tucked safely away inside during a pandemic that makes you notice that your drapes are looking a little dingy, or your shutters feel a little outdated, or the light coming in is really harsher than you originally thought.
That might explain why the phones at the Budget Blinds office of Wesley Chapel’s Mike and Adriane Wonderlin rarely stopped ringing this past year.
“To be honest, business has never been better,” says Adriane. “People are in their homes, looking out their windows and getting sick of looking at the same thing all the time.”
But, that’s not the only reason, Adriane adds. New homes are flying off the shelves, too, and many new owners are eager to put their own touch on their new residences.
“There’s a lot of new construction going on, and they don’t want the builder’s blinds,” Adriane says. “They want something they had a choice in (to make) their homes more beautiful.”
Wesley Chapel residents Adriane and Mike Wonderlin own one of the top Budget Blinds franchises in the country.
The growth has led Adriane and Mike to expand. After working for Budget Blinds for nearly 10 years, the Lexington Oaks residents are now the owners of the Budget Blinds franchises in Greater Tampa, Brandon and Lakeland. Adriane says their territory, which stretches all the way north to San Antonio and south to Palmetto and includes showrooms on W. Fletcher Ave. (near I-275, two exits south of Wesley Chapel’s S.R. 56 exit) and in Riverview, covers nearly 90 zip codes.
The brisk business has not only led to having to hire more employees (they now have 30), but Budget Blinds has outgrown its Riverview showroom, which is being expanded. The showrooms are still closed to walk-in traffic, as Budget Blinds continues to take Covid precautions and a no-contact approach, with design consultants still wearing gloves, masks and booties when visiting their customers’ homes.
And, this summer, the Wonderlins will expand to Wesley Chapel.
Budget Blinds was one of the first businesses to sign a lease for a spot in the upcoming KRATE container park at The Grove. After a number of delays, they hope to be open sometime in June or July.
The container set-up will feature living spaces that show off the offerings at Budget Blinds (something similar to IKEA’s set-ups). There will be samples on hand and design consultants to assist in making your choices.
“It will be like a mini-showroom,” Adriane says.
The new showroom also will utilize television monitors and iPads to help bring your ideas into focus. It’s part of a move to a more digital approach, the Wonderlins say.
And, speaking of digital approaches, their Budget Blinds franchise also is beefing up its social media standing with a renewed focus on Instagram — @budgetblindsgreatertampa — where it is polling customers to determine what they like and teaming up with online influencers to bring the possibilities offered by Budget Blinds to life.
There is a variety of styles to choose from no matter what you are looking for — from best-selling brands like Signature Series, Enlightened Styles and Norman Shutters.
Blinds come in vinyl, wood, fabric, faux wood and aluminum. Shutter options range from real wood (in painted or stained) and also composite shutters that will not fade or warp.
If you prefer shades, you can choose from roller, pleated, Roman, cellular, woven wood, bamboo, sheer, solar and graphic, not to mention a variety of panels, valances and drapes.
Adriane says the most popular choices are plantation shutters, which is a huge part of Budget Blinds’ business, and treatments like Roman and roller shades remain a top seller. Adriane says after years of more simple and hard-lined window treatments, soft treatments also are growing again in popularity.
Features that continue to grow in popularity are motorization and automation.
Budget Blinds has a private label called Smart Home Collection by Budget Blinds, and it can be used with a variety of vendors.
“If you found a certain fabric with one vendor, but for another room you want a different vendor, that system will work with both,” Mike says. “It’s a single platform that goes across multiple brands.”
Motorization is more pushing a button on a remote control or keypad, while automation is typically using an app on a phone to set times for the drapes or blinds to open and close. Scheduled correctly, you can be awakened in the morning by natural sunlight as your blackout shades gradually rise, or change the ambiance of your whole home after the sun has set, all with the press of a button or a voice command.
Both eliminate the need for unsightly (and sometimes dangerous) cords.
“It’s great for windows behind couches, especially if you have a conservation view,” Mike says. “People love not having to go (manually) raise the blinds on eight windows every morning. I even had a customer a few months ago (whose) teenage sons wouldn’t wake up, so they set the timers on their blinds for 7 a.m.”
The technology gets better every year, Mike says, and sales of motorization/automation products are up 25 percent over the past three years.
About The Company
Budget Blinds was founded in 1992 in Orange County, CA, and has more than 1,000 franchises in the U.S. and Canada. The Wonderlins’ franchise, which they purchased in 2018, was recently awarded Budget Blinds’ national Franchise of the Year for 2020, the franchise’s third such honor since 2016.
The Wonderlins have a staff of 30 consultants, including installation manager Bill Tumelty, a U.S. Army veteran, and administrative manager Kristi Cicollelo.
Tumelty is one of a few military veterans working for the Wonderlins, who partner with Homes For Our Troops by providing and installing the window treatments in the homes of wounded veterans for free.
Whether you’re looking for improved aesthetics or smarter energy consumption — or, like many customers, a little bit of both — Budget Blinds can steer you in the right direction. And this summer, your journey to more elegant and convenient window treatments can start right in the new local mini-showroom at KRATE.
“We’re excited about it,” Adriane says. “Anything you put in Wesley Chapel right now takes off. And, we’re local — it’s literally right in our backyard.”
The main Budget Blinds of Greater Tampa showroom is located at 1208 W. Fletcher Ave. The showroom hours are Mon.-Fri., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. To schedule a complimentary in-home consultation, call (813) 968-5050. For more info, visit BudgetBlinds.com/NorthTampa or see the ad on page 24.
Developer Mark Gold’s vision of a one-of-a-kind hip, trendy and photogenic new outdoor shopping experience off Wesley Chapel Blvd. at I-75 has begun taking shape.
There will there be a sneak preview of the newly-revamped but not yet open movie theater on Dec. 31 at The Grove’s New Year’s Eve Countdown Extravaganza. The event will feature a 4-course meal with complimentary wine pairings for each course, as well as a private open bar cocktail reception with musical entertainment by Cal Morris Music.
Tickets are limited, and for more information click here.
The movie theater party comes on the heels of the first soon-to-be converted shipping container being officially placed on November 20 at KRATE, the outdoor “container park.”
More than a dozen more containers also are now in place, as Gold hopes to open many of the new businesses in the first quarter of 2021.
Seventeen modified containers, which will be home to nine businesses, make up the initial phase of what will one day be one of the largest container parks in the world.
Though Gold’s vision began with a sun-beaten, unsightly faded yellow steel container being lowered onto a sandy patch of land, the shipping containers will be unrecognizable from their original forms after being transformed with air-conditioning, glass windows and doors, countertops, cabinets and wood and tile flooring and a few coats of brightly colored paint designed to create a festive look.
The first set of containers will be occupied by restaurants offering diverse dishes and items like Asian noodles, Puerto Rican cuisine, desserts and charcuterie boards.
Empty shipping containers like these, amongst the first to be put in place at KRATE, are being transformed into a trendy new food and retail “container park” experience at The Grove, which is expected to begin opening in early 2021. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
KRATE is expected to be the biggest of all the container parks. Once complete, it will feature 94 containers and 55 units comprised of 70% restaurants and 30% retail stores. Other restaurants will feature cuisine from around the world like Colombia, Peru and Germany.
Some of the most recently announced tenants include The Cake Girl, Yummy Tablas and ATO, a burrito bowl concept by the owners of Zukku-San Sushi (which we featured last issue). The planned retail shops include a music store and a Lego® brand product superstore.
KRATE also will feature a stage with daily live entertainment, a dog park, a playground and plenty of outdoor seating.
“There is nothing like this in the world,” says Gold, a partner in Mishorim Gold Properties, which purchased the Grove for $62.7 million in September 2019. “KRATE is receiving attention across the globe for its unique concept and offerings. We will become the ultimate shopping and entertainment destination, not just for Wesley Chapel, but for the region and around the world.”
When it is complete, KRATE (rendering above) will feature 94 shipping containers making up 55 units, including more than 30 new restaurants.
While the container park concept is still relatively new, it has proven to be popular. Downtown Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf has re-purposed shipping containers housing roughly a dozen takeout restaurants, and places like Kansas City and Philadelphia have opened container parks of varying sizes the past two years.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, a popular container park — actually named Container Park — has 34 outlets with an emphasis on hip and quirky local businesses, as well as a stage and a playground.
Since purchasing The Grove, Gold has signed on 75 new tenants, including some businesses that are already open in what Gold calls The Village area — like F45 Fitness, the dueling piano bar restaurant Treble Makers (see pg. 21)and the Double Branch Artisanal Ales brewery (see pages 32-33).
Gold says he has invested more than $110 million into the renovation of The Grove property which, in addition to KRATE, will include a reimagined movie theater and restaurant, a miniature golf course expected to break ground in January and, potentially, a water park.
With pandemic safety at the forefront, Gold says all of the businesses in The Village and in the KRATE complex will include “medical grade” sanitation technology, like fogging machines, automated thermal temperature scan swing gates at the entrance and UV lights.
Those safety steps are expected to encourage people to feel comfortable both inside and outside while shopping and dining, including inside The Grove Movie Theater, which is expected to fully open sometime in January, not too long after the planned VIP sneak preview event on New Year’s Eve.
