Encore Finally Has a Corner Market. Here's How It Reshuffles the Downtown Tampa Grocery Run.

TOTUM Market & Eatery is now open on the ground floor of Harrison Residences at 1120 N. Nebraska Ave., at the corner of Ray Charles Boulevard. It is the newest grocery stop in downtown Tampa. Downtown's walkable groceries have been opening one at a time since 2019, mostly near the Channel and the waterfront. TOTUM is the first one on the Encore side, between downtown, Channelside and Ybor City. It also works differently from the stores that came before it. The Publix stores in the core are built for a full cart. TOTUM is built for a coffee, a prepared bowl and a bottle for dinner, and the hours that suit them.

How the core got its grocery stores

Not long ago, downtown had almost no neighborhood grocery store. When Publix at Channel Club opened at 1105 E. Twiggs St. in August 2019, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the Channel District hadn't had a neighborhood grocer before. Before then, shoppers used the smaller Duckweed market or a Publix under two miles away, and that drive could be hard on arena event nights. The Channel Club store is still the full-service anchor today, with produce, bakery, deli and seafood counters.

Two years later, Water Street added its own store. The Publix GreenWise Market in the Heron tower opened on August 19, 2021, according to Publix's announcement. The GreenWise name didn't last. By May 2025, WFLA described a standard Publix running in the space that "was once a GreenWise Market." Publix now lists that store at 555 Channelside Dr., open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Duckweed is still on the map with two urban markets. One is downtown at 803 N. Tampa St. and the other is in the Channel District at 111 N. 12th St. They stock curated groceries, deli items and local and organic goods.

Put those four stops on a map and they cluster near the Channel, Water Street and the west side of downtown. Nebraska Avenue sat outside that cluster.

The Encore side of the core

Encore is the redevelopment of the former Central Park Village, part of the Tampa Housing Authority's broader redevelopment program, as 83 Degrees described in 2025. Apartment buildings went up around Nebraska Avenue, but the closest grocery stops were still the ones listed above.

Tampa Newsroom reported that TOTUM stands next to several apartment complexes. It said residents of those buildings can now walk to get food instead of driving across town. The store soft-opened in mid-September, and its grand opening weekend was October 10 and 11. FOX 13 described it as linking downtown and Ybor City.

A market built for spending time

The TOTUM site lists a natural, organic and local grocery. It also lists prepared bowls and café entrées, a bottle shop, a café and bar, coffee, and pressed juice and smoothies. The shelves also carry produce, wildflowers, pasta, home goods and bread.

Much of the store comes from Tampa Bay itself. That's So Tampa counted more than 20 local vendors, including Paradeco Coffee Co., The Sourdoughist, Pete's Bagels, The Hyppo and LS Organics. If you already buy Pete's Bagels or a Hyppo pop, you can now pick them up alongside eggs and produce.

One Tampa resident described the appeal to FOX 13 this way: "I absolutely love that it's a destination instead of a place where you just stop and pick up a couple of groceries. You really want to hang out." That's the clearest way TOTUM differs from the other stops. You can stay for a coffee or eat a meal there, which isn't really what the Channel Club and Water Street stores are set up for.

The Encore store is TOTUM's only location for now. An April 2026 WhatNow Tampa report called it a planned flagship for future expansion. That same report expected a summer opening, and the store actually opened in September.

Which stop fits which errand

With TOTUM open, there are five walkable grocery stops in the core, and each handles a different kind of trip.

Most weeks, a big stock-up will still mean the Channel Club or Water Street Publix. TOTUM is better for small, frequent trips: dinner tonight, bread for the morning, a local snack, or a bottle you remembered on the walk home. Duckweed's two stores sit between those roles. They're compact like TOTUM but don't have its café seating. Hours at Duckweed's stores can vary, so check before a late run.

The hours at TOTUM

TOTUM's counters keep different hours, so the time of day decides what you can get.

1. 7 a.m. The grocery and café open together. Coffee, the bakery bar, juice and the morning shelf are all available.
2. 11 a.m. The bottle shop opens.
3. 7 p.m. The café closes, but the grocery side stays open.
4. 9 p.m. The grocery closes every night. The bottle shop also closes at 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday.
5. 10 p.m. The bottle shop stays open until 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.

The 7 p.m. café close is the one most likely to catch you out. If you want a prepared meal and a seat, go before then. After 7, it's a grab-and-go stop. The Water Street Publix stays open until 10 p.m. every night, an hour after TOTUM's grocery closes, so late weeknight runs still mean heading toward the waterfront. On Thursday through Saturday, TOTUM's bottle shop matches that 10 p.m. close.

From an Encore apartment, grab morning coffee and bread at TOTUM, pick up dinner there before 7, and walk to the Channel Club Publix when the pantry needs a real restock.

Grocery stores within walking distance are one of the things people ask about most when they look at homes in downtown Tampa. At The Michelle Ward Group, we keep up with openings like TOTUM because they change daily life on these blocks. If you own near Nebraska Avenue or the Channel and wonder how a new neighbor like this affects your home's value, get your instant home valuation and we'll walk you through the numbers.