VIERA, Fla. – Looks like the Soup Shop’s roller coaster ride to Viera will stop at Addison Square, a new plaza at the southwest corner of Lake Andrew and Ivanhoe drives.
Julie Shipley, owner of the fast-casual Melbourne restaurant that specializes in soups, salads and sandwiches, signed a lease last fall to open a location in the Crossings at Viera, to be built off Viera Boulevard at Star Rush Drive. She planned to open in fall 2024, according to News 6 partner Florida Today. But when Whole Foods Market signed on to anchor the plaza, Shipley said, she was told the Soup Shop violated the organic grocer’s non-compete agreement.
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Now, the Soup Shop is set to open in Addison Square in a few months.
Shipley and her husband, Philip, were on vacation when she got a call from Erik Costin, vice president and partner with W&J Construction in Rocklege.
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W&J is building Addison Square, which is around the corner from Viera Hospital. He asked Shipley if she’d be interested in opening a Soup Shop there.
“We were very excited to accept. I sign my lease today,” she said Tuesday.
Costin said they wanted to expand the food options at Addison Square, which also will be home to Sage Dental of Viera and Foxtail Coffee. He hopes to sign on another restaurant for the plaza. There’s a space at the end of the plaza with plenty of room for outdoor dining.
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When a friend sent Costin the FLORIDA TODAY story about Shipley’s lease being canceled, he contacted her on a Friday.
“By Monday at lunchtime, she was in my conference room with three containers of soup,” he said.
Within a week the lease was signed.
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“We want small businesses to succeed in our real estate properties,” Costin said.
Costin feels the Soup Shop is a perfect fit for the plaza. A large apartment community is under construction around it, and the hospital is within walking distance. The cafe will offer dine-in counter service, as well as to-go orders on hot and cold food. Shipley is contemplating offering golf cart delivery to the surrounding neighborhoods.
Costin said he enjoys getting to sit face-to-face with the business owner and getting to know them, rather than dealing with a corporation.
“Now we get to sit back and watch their success,” he said.
Most of the construction on the center is complete, Costin said. Now tenants are starting their build-outs.
Shipley hopes to have the shop open by Sept. 1.
“It depends on how long permitting takes,” she said.
She sees the new Viera location as coming full circle. She started her foray into the restaurant business selling soup in the Snack Shack, which used to be located at the Pro-Health & Fitness Center next to the hospital. She’s grateful for the guidance she received from Snack Shack owner Denise Mansour during those early days.
Shipley’s looking at a busy fall.
She signed a lease earlier this month for a space near Hammock Landing in West Melbourne. She plans to open that location in mid-August. And she recently found out the Soup Shop will be going into the food court at the Eastern Florida State College Melbourne campus. She’ll begin service there when the fall term begins.
Soup for all three new locations will be made at the Melbourne store and delivered to West Melbourne, Viera and EFSC daily.
She opened the Soup Shop in 2012 in the Post Commons plaza at 4100 N. Wickham Road, Melbourne, mostly selling hot soup for takeout and larger containers of cold soup for take home. She expanded the cafe in 2018, adding a dining room. The Soup Shop now sells sandwiches, salads, pot pies and desserts, as well as cold soup to-go by the pint and quart.
Shipley is eager to expand the Soup Shop’s reach to other parts of the Space Coast.
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