Top Story — April: Siesta Market to close May 31

After season winds down, Siesta Market will close its doors.

Chris Brown and his business partner, Mike Granthon, purchased the Siesta Market center properties—which includes Siesta Key Hardware and Meaney’s Mini Donuts— in November from Whiting Holdings and Joseph Golomb for $2.8 million. 

Vince Messina owns the Market business, and Peter Messina is the manager. Brown said the Messinas approached him in March, saying they wanted to retire after running the store for decades.

“They understand the commitment that it takes to run the store,” Brown said. “They wanted to retire and do it on their own terms.”

The Messinas are waiting until May 31, after season has started to slow down.

“It takes time and resources, and they’ve been very successful,” Brown said.

Brown and Granthon are already talking to potential vendors to fill the high-profile retail location in the Village, but they are still open to suggestions. However, Brown thinks the location’s best use is still a grocery store of some kind.

“I think that is a service that’s needed—there’s a huge void if it’s not a grocery store,” he said. “Customers and tourists depend on it.”

Siesta Market is the only grocer in the Village; Crescent Beach Grocery serves the south end of the Key on Old Stickney Point Road.

Brown and Granthon have considered opening their own grocery in the same location, but Brown said they have not made an official decision on any vendor yet. Brown hopes to have a vendor selected within 30 to 45 days. He plans to give the store a new coat of paint and maybe a new façade.

Whichever vendor is selected, Brown was firm that his goal was not to commercialize the property with a big box store. Brown said there have been rumors that there could be a Wal-Mart or CVS as contenders. While he said there’s nothing wrong with these stores, there is a place for everything, and the Village is not it.

“Whatever goes there will maintain the charm of the Village,” he said. “There’s no amount of money that would convince me or Mike to put a CVS or a Wal-Mart in there.”