Design issues and permitting requirements prevented the December grand opening of Djon Pepaj’s much-anticipated new venture, Village Market. But the local restaurateur says everything is now back on track for a grand opening in mid-April of the gourmet grocery on Indialantic’s Fifth Avenue.
Pepaj, who also owns Copperhead Tavern in Indialantic, and Sand on the Beach and Djon’s Steak & Lobster House in Melbourne Beach, is in the process of converting his former restaurant and bar, City Tropics, and four other buildings to the east, into a gourmet food mecca called Village Market. When complete, the establishment will offer a rooftop bar, in-house bakery, a butcher’s station, seafood, a sushi and oyster bar, specialty cheeses, organic produce and grocery, a wine shop, liquor store and restaurant.
“We will be finished with construction in mid-March,” Pepaj said. “Then we have to complete the interior design and do the stocking.”
Village Market isn’t the only new grocery store coming to Indialantic. Plans are also underway for a new 27,000-square-foot Publix concept store that will be located to the south of Indialantic Shopping Center. At other established locations the concept has included a café, expanded deli and bakery options, more prepared food items, and a cooking school. Developers are projecting a late 2019 or early 2020 grand opening.
“People are going to go where they want to go,” Pepaj said. “If they want a different kind of experience, they will come here.”