When Steve and Polly Hale, Jr. opened their modest roadside fruit stand in Wabasso 70 years ago, little did they know it would be a precursor to becoming the largest shipper of fruit gift baskets in the state.
Through the years, the company has had numerous retail stores open and close. And now, Hale Groves will be shuttering its iconic store on U.S. 1 in Wabasso to open a modern visitor’s center and retail store at its 90th Avenue packinghouse and corporate office .
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The change is being made to align the company’s citrus and mail order catalog operations.
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“The Wabasso retail store was also the original location of the Hale packinghouse,” said Alex Brown, President of Hale Groves. “In 1999, the packinghouse was moved to downtown Vero and then to west Vero. We are in the process of re-uniting our retail and packinghouse operations all to one location, just as they were from 1960 to 1999.
“We have had many customer requests to visit the packinghouse, and we also want to offer a forward looking vision of Hale Groves at the retail level. This move is really a return to form for Hale, and while it is a change, we believe customers will ultimately love it. ”
Citrus roots
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While Hale Groves has been through many different phases, the company never strayed from the original vision of offering fresh juice and shipping top-end fruit around the country.
In 1947, the Hales started out small, like most family citrus businesses did in Indian River County, with a roadside fruit stand on U.S. 1. The operation was based out of their home, and they packed citrus in their backyard shed.
Over time, a mailing list was generated with people they knew and customers they met at the fruit stand. The Hales offered fresh-squeezed orange juice and fruit with flavor so popular legend has it customers would line up to purchase for themselves or to ship to friends back home.
Steve Hale’s job was picking the citrus fruit, packing the fruit carefully in the shed and traveling to the Railway Express Station to ship it. Polly Hale was the office manager, full-time mom, all-around chief clerk and order taker.
In 1960, the couple moved the retail business and opened their first packing house in the same location where the current Wabasso store stands. That same year they ventured out to the middle of the state and opened a retail store in Clermont.
In the 1980s they acquired Kennedy Groves and opened retail stores on Beachland Blvd. and on south U.S. 1 in Vero Beach. In 1999, they moved the packing house to downtown Vero Beach before moving it to its current location on 90th Avenue, where they plan to open the new visitor’s center and retail store.
Additional retail stores came and went, including one near the Indian River Mall and Fresh Market, and a presence within Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. In 2008,Hale was the anchor vendor for the opening of the Farmer’s Market Oceanside on Ocean Drive.
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“We are very excited to be returning as a vendor at Farmer’s Market Oceanside which will be especially convenient for our customers who live on the barrier island,” Brown said. “And for the rest of Vero Beach, the new visitor’s center and retail store will be closer to downtown Vero than the current Wabasso store. We also hope to attract new customers traveling on I-95 and want to stop in for some fresh juice and to see what we are all about.”
New store
By bringing the local retail aspect of the business onto the packinghouse grounds, the hope is to create a destination experience all in one location. Visitors will be able see the entire operation.
The new retail store still will feature fresh juice, fruit from the packinghouse as well as samples of gift baskets, jams, jellies, honey and ice cream. Visually, it will reflect the company catalog and its use of rustic wood, nature and greenery.
“We want the experience to be a tangible way of experiencing the brand that is represented in the catalog,” Brown said. “The current Wabasso retail store is not quite in sync with that and so this new venture is about the physical retail experience following the brand. In fairness, we have just not really updated that store. It has not made sense to, but with this we really have a chance to show the authenticity of the true operation and where Hale Groves is heading.”
The Wabasso retail store will close at the end of July. The 1650 90th Avenue location will be open for juice and gift shipping sales this fall, with a complete renovation slated for 2018. Hale Groves expects to be back at Farmer’s Market Oceanside by September.
For more information visit www.halegroves.com/retail.
This story was written by Tania Ortega-Cowan on behalf of Hale Groves.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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