It seems like the signs have been up at the intersection of Sand Lake Rd and Turkey Lake Rd in the Dr. Phillips area forever, with not much evidence that the newest Orlando-area Whole Foods Market ^[1] store was actually going to open. But open it finally will this coming Wednesday, June 25th.

For most of the last week, I’ve been so inundated with advertising touting pre-opening tours (completely booked up every time I checked) and a huge grand-opening party, that it seems as though this is the biggest thing to hit the southwest side of O-Town since the theme parks. Of course, all the hype only serves to fuel my curiosity about the place, so I guess it’s doing its job.

Strange then, that when I went to the company’s website to find out more specific details about the opening, I had to click through several layers of pages to actually find any information on it.

At any rate, it appears the grand-opening celebration actually extends through the weekend, though the bulk of the celebrations are happening on opening day. To save you the time of digging for the info, here’s what I’ve been able to uncover:

• On Wednesday (June 25th), Whole Foods is offering up a free breakfast starting at 8am on the patio. At 9am, the doors open and the store welcomes its first customers. The first 250 customers will receive a free Whole Foods Market reusable shopping bag, and the first 150 kids get a free kid’s pack (no mention of what that includes). Enjoy samples and product demonstrations throughout the store and cooking demonstrations in the lifestyle area, as well. From 11am-2pm and 4pm-7pm they’ll also be serving up free BBQ. Sounds yummy! I’m also told there will be live music performances throughout the day.
• On Thursday (June 26th), the store is hosting a sampling session of their chocolate, desserts and Allegro coffee from 7-8pm. Friday, there’s another sampling session from 7-8pm, though this one is wine and cheese.
• Saturday (June 27th) and Sunday (June 28th), enjoy more BBQ samples from 11am-5pm, kids cooking demonstrations, live music and product sampling. First 100 customers of each day also get one of those reusable shopping bags.

For more information on the new store, visit the Whole Foods Market website ^[2].

I’ll be there a few of the days with my foodie roommate, who is super excited there’s finally a Whole Foods near us. I’ll report back with photos. Of course, if any of you go, feel free to drop us comments on what you thought or give us links to any blog posts you might do.