PLANT CITY, Fla. — People just can’t say enough about downtown Plant City.
“It’s a great place where all the locals come and hang out,” said Martha Trejo, owner of Sweet Roots Apparel.
“We’ve got a lot of great things happening here,” said Frank Trunzo, owner and operator of Krazy Kup and Stage 201.
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“Lots of new businesses have opened up,” said Wenda Trunzo, owner and operator of Krazy Kup.
Wenda and Frank Trunzo are the owners and operators of Krazy Cup. It’s an award-winning, old-school coffee house that’s been in the heart of downtown Plant City for 12 years now.
This place offers coffee, pastries that are made right upstairs, and entertainment.
“We have had Grammy award winning talent upstairs. We’ve become well respected and well known for our Blue Grass genre of music,” said Frank.
“It’s fun,” said Wenda.
They’ve seen this city grow, while keeping its charm.
“It’s stayed the same, but it’s also expanded and changed and kind of blossomed,” said Wenda.
Just around the corner, Frank opened up stage 201 with his son, Josh Trunzo.
“We do a variety of things. We do live music, we have some of the best pizza around in this area,” said Stage 201 general manager, Josh Trunzo.
“When we put it together, people were awed by it,” said Frank.
They’ve invested more in this rapidly expanding community.
“New businesses and new opportunities have popped up all over downtown,” said Josh.
“We’ve enjoyed the changes that have taken place over the years we’ve been here,” said Frank.
Just down the street from Stage 201 sits Sweet Roots Apparel.
It’s a boutique offering things like size-inclusive clothing, a charm bar, embroidery, gifts— you name it.
“You can be extra small or 3X, we have something for everyone. No one is too young, no one is too old…we have a little bit of everything, truly. We strive to be your one-stop shop,” said Martha Trejo, owner of Sweet Roots Apparel.
Trejo has lived in Plant City since she was about 6 years old and has also seen the growth in this area, especially downtown.
“I know that Plant City is growing and everyone wants to come and live in Plant City because it’s such a great place,” said Trejo.
She hopes it will mean success for local businesses.
“Anybody that comes to downtown to support local business owners, we truly, truly appreciate that,” said Trejo.
She also appreciates the way in which downtown has grown.
“It still preserves that small-town feel,” said Trejo.
Downtown is filled with buildings dating back to historic Plant City, which is why the city manager told Tampa Bay 28 that leaders have been really intentional with how they’ve encouraged growth here within a confined space.
“What you’re trying to grow is the number of businesses within that space and what types of businesses they are, so they appeal to more and more people,” said City Manager Bill McDaniel.
While the businesses may draw in visitors, it’s the community that keeps them coming back.
“The people here are just genuine. And the authenticity of who we are, it comes through,” said Frank.
“Whenever I was a little kid growing up here, it was kind of like 'Oh, this is Plant City.' And now it’s kind of become, 'Oh, have you been to Plant City?'” said Josh.
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