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WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — This weekend marks the grand opening of a new retail concept at the Grove in Wesley Chapel.

Krate is an outdoor shopping mall made up entirely of old shipping containers. You’ve probably seen the concept used in other places, but not quite on this scale.

“It’s my dream coming true,” Krate developer Mark Gold said.

Gold can barely contain his excitement. His container concept is finally coming to fruition after a tumultuous three years of COVID, labor shortages, and soaring material costs that tripled his original budget.

“It’s not only about shopping. It’s about entertainment and something to do together as a family,” he said.

Krate is a first-of-its-kind concept — a destination built from re-purposed shipping containers, but the stores have outside and inside space.

Since it’s the first retail center of its scope, Gold says they had to meet what he called every code in the book. The containers, he says, meet local hurricane codes and all other safety codes that go along with constructing a retail development of this size.

The containers are popular because they’re considered environmentally friendly — having been built with repurposed material, as well as the open-air option — which became popular during the pandemic.

“I think it’s nice because it is outdoors, which we all know is better,” said customer Angelica Sisson. “And like everyone leaves are open and stuff too so I think that sort of contributes also to it feeling a little bit better.”

The site has a family-friendly play area and an outdoor stage for free entertainment. About 70% of the businesses are food and restaurant concepts. The other 30% is retail and services.

“Absolutely love it,” said customer Sophie Spinelli marveling at the variety. “There’s a little bit of everything.”

The idea, say developers, was always to give mom-and-pop businesses a chance to flourish by keeping overhead costs down.

The smaller space was perfect for folks like Tracy DiMillo and her Urban Sweets bakery.

“It’s small enough I could choose how many crates I wanted. One, two, three, cut them in half or whatever,” DiMillo said. “This worked for me. My budget.”

All 94 containers, 64 businesses in all, have already been fully leased and while all but four merchants at the container park have opened their doors, the official grand opening event takes place this Saturday, June 4.

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