Villages Grown Defunct?
 

Apparently the Villages Grown produce has quietly closed down? I don't believe it was very profitable, but a lot of the micro greens were unique and delicious, and nothing similar is available locally now. Wonder what will become of all the greenhouses on Rt 44. Sold and another strip mall perhaps...

If this is what you're referring to - it looks alive and well.
Homepage - Grown

Maybe it changed ownership?

Another sale to the residents............8-)

for $10 mill.

They supply to all tv restaurants, and onsite facilities memory care and such.

There was the usual cars there this week, just harder to spot with Walmart fuel station.

The following comes directly from their Director of Business Development: "Since 2018 Grown has existed to provide residents of The Villages and the surrounding community with hyper-fresh, nutrient dense foods to support a healthy, active lifestyle. Due to the sheer size of the farm, wholesaling produce was necessary to fill up all the greenhouses. While this necessary strategy benefited communities throughout Florida, it moved the farm away from its original purpose of providing fresh produce direct to residents of The Villages. In August 2025, the farm closed its regional wholesale operations to return to its roots - providing freshly harvested produce direct to residents through Provisions Grocery & Essentials (we rebranded our Grown store in Sawgrass last October). We hope you will visit us at Provisions Grocery & Essentials for your Grown produce favorites. Grown produce is still being grown in the hydroponic greenhouses on the corner of 44 and Morse as they always have been."

We always by our fresh produce from.Brown and Brown's Market on 301. Excellent locally grown.

False
 

False, they are still growing and providing to restaurants here, and selling at their stores in Middleton and Sawgrass.

Information source?
it could be, but reliable confirmation is needed.

They’ve stopped selling at Publix and have gone back to only selling at local Villages stores like Provisions in Magnolia Plaza and Middleton etc. I was in Provisions yesterday and got microgreens and lettuce where they mentioned you can’t get this at Publix anymore. She said “They’re going back to how it was supposed to be”

they cut out the middle man, because they can't scale large enough for Publix. Small companies are hard to grow for this reason, higher margins versus higher rate of growth. But as long as they are still here, there will be options and a choice. .

If you don't want to drive south, you can also get micro greens at The Fresh Market and Costco.

Thank you all for the information. I had heard the rumor specially from various Publix employees. So, that makes sense, that they (grocery stores) won't be carrying the popular items, so I'll have to keep it in mind when near Provisions. I would expect growing volume would significantly decrease. Last time in the Sawgrass store they didn't have a single item of their brand, but I love the concept of these two convenient stores that carry so many great "necessities" that is handy when in those areas. Maybe an off day.

Thank you. Looks like a very very small distribution area now. I hadn't seen the updated website.

Thank you for the information. I did not see that release. I'll be going to both Provisions more often. Great little convenient store concept that carry a good variety of "almost everything" you might need, instead of roaming through a large grocery store for a few items, and their prices are within line.

There's NO WAY they can be profitable by only selling in those few storefronts. That greenhouse operation has a huge fixed cost!

There used to be a Villages Grown store front in Brownwood. I wonder if they'll reopen it.

I’ll be a customer as soon as we move there in early October!

There wasn’t no “release” .

That paragraph was a “copy / paste “ from a post I started on NextDoor. Unfortunately, the person that posted it didn’t see fit to give me credit for it .

It came in a direct email TO ME from Rebecca Miller, the Director of Business Development for The Villages Grown.

I had emailed her directly after “rumors” that The Villages Grown had gone out of business (obviously not true)

Scaling Back
 

Scaling back isn’t always the best sign a business will make it.

The Villages know exactly what they are doing …. 😉

Hopefully
 

I hope so for the sake of those who are still left working there. We sure don’t want it to become as bad as the huge mess The Villages Heath is going through. Obviously it would be on a smaller scale, but bankruptcy is bankruptcy. I certainly wish them the best!

So, it's now "Grown" without the "Villages" in the name.

I worked at a Publix in Ocala when they had The Viilage Grown products in stock. The never did sell very well. They were often close to the expiration date when they were delivered and they were priced higher than comparable items from other sources.

Village Grown still operational and you can buy their items in Sawgrass and at Provisions in Middleton. They no longer sell through Publix. Products worth the cost as they stay fresh longer and taste great, unlike other produce I buy locally.

But..
 

They also provide for all the Villages restaurants, some assisted living etc…the original plan for the company.

Just like with Medicare.

And therin lies one of the issues. Publix didn't sell comparable items to those provided by Grown. That would require all lettuce to be equal so buy the cheapest. Villagers are mostly driven by price.