By Peter Covino
Entertainment Editor

Take the dog to the vet. Get a haircut. Change the oil in the car.

Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done, but grocery shopping, at least, just got a little bit easier.

Downtown Kissimmee area workers and residents have a new place to shop — Marketplace Express.

The shop, which opened in late February, occupies what used to be the Coliseum of Comics store on Broadway.

At first glance, the new grocery store doesn’t appear to be much bigger than the standard convenience store, but Marketplace Express is much bigger than it looks.

The store fronts Main Street, Marketing Director Linda Pattillo said, but there is an additional room in the back of the store that leads to a rear entrance and parking lot.

Combined, the two large rooms offer just about anything you might find at a regular chain grocery store. The quantities and variety of products may be less, but chances are, if you need a grocery item, Marketplace Express has it.

Near the store’s front entrance is the dollar section of the store, where many items are just a dollar or two. Also at the front entrance are the over-the-counter cold remedies. The store also has a large selection of medical supplies. A Pharmacy Express, with prescription drugs, will be opening soon. The discount pharmacy will offer free prescription antibiotics, blood pressure medications and more, as well as $3 a month generic medications.

Another big plus the store offers, Pattillo said, is free grocery delivery. There is a $25 minimum order and limited delivery to the area around downtown Kissimmee.

Free delivery hasn’t started yet, Pattillo said. The store is getting its database put together. To get free delivery, customers need to register.

The store has a convenient inventory brochure, made for home deliveries, with prices of most items listed. All food items that cost $1.10, for example, are listed together. Those items include one quart-size container of fruit punch, mango, peach and lemon juice; several varieties of cookies; gravy mixes; honey; salad dressings and more.

In addition to dry goods, grocery items and household cleaning supplies, the store also has a freezer and refrigerated section with ice cream, meat, fish and cold beer.

Meat items include chicken (legs, thighs, breasts and wings sold by the pound); rib-eye steak, pork chops and ground beef. Seafood items include catfish and talapia.

Prices at the marketplace are comparable to chain grocery stores and the store does offer weekly specials.

The latest sale items included goods like three-liter bottles of soda for 99 cents; chunk light tuna for 69 cents and a 24-pack of natural spring water for $2.99.

The store also has a selection of Hispanic products and items from the United Kingdom.

Marketplace Express also sells cigarettes, phone cards, ice, newspapers and Florida Lottery tickets.

The store also is a bill pay station, Pattillo said, and all major credit cards are accepted.

Tom Lanier, owner of Lanier’s Antique Marketplace, said the store has already had an impact on his family.

“It’s a great place to get those necessary items as well as just being convenient,” Lanier said.

“And I like the way the store is set up from front to back,” he said, with two entrances and parking in the back.

Olga Glancey, who lives just a few blocks from downtown Kissimmee, has already become a regular customer.

She said she often shops while wheeling her 10-month-old daughter, Alana, in a stroller.

“It is convenient when I need something,” she said. “I don’t have to go very far.”

Marketplace Express is at 22 Broadway. The company also operates a second store in Daytona Beach.

The Kissimmee store is open daily, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.