Two years ago, running a full Saturday of errands in Inlet Beach meant a car, a plan, and probably a trip west toward Rosemary or east into Panama City Beach. That is not true anymore. The east end of 30A now has a Publix, a chiropractor, a primary care office, a Lagree studio, a Jersey Mike's, and a FedEx Office within a short walk of each other, and a pedestrian tunnel under Highway 98 to connect it to the shops and restaurants on the other side.
The story of 2026 in Inlet Beach is not another restaurant opening. It is the shift from a place built to entertain visitors into a place engineered for everyday life. Here is what has actually opened, where it sits, and how a resident should think about it.
The shift you can feel on foot
Watersound Town Center reached roughly 160,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, service and office space this summer, is 98% leased, and is planned to grow to about 400,000 square feet. The residential demand behind that math is not abstract. More than 1,700 completed homes, townhomes and apartment units sit inside the Watersound Origins, Watersound Camp Creek and Watersound Origins Crossings communities, with more homesites in various stages of development, according to St. Joe. That is why you are seeing tenants like Jersey Mike's and a chiropractor before another beachwear boutique.
Watersound Town Center: what's actually open as of summer 2026
St. Joe confirmed on June 30, 2026 that the following retailers have opened their doors on the center's newest multi-tenant building along US-98:
- FP Movement — the activewear line from Free People, one of roughly 220 store locations nationally
- Hemline 30A — women's contemporary apparel and accessories
- Monkee's — an upscale women's boutique with about 60 Southeast locations
- Sunset Shoes & Lifestyles — footwear and lifestyle goods
- Johnnie-O — golf-inspired apparel, expected to open later this summer
Away from apparel, the practical additions matter more to daily life:
- Jersey Mike's Subs in the Publix shopping center
- Lagree 30A, running 45-minute Megaformer classes using the patented Lagree method used in over 500 studios worldwide
- Fischer Homes, which has opened an office and showroom serving Watersound Origins, Breakfast Point East and Salt Grass at Ward Creek
- Art-of-Fact(s), a home décor and gift shop from the owners of The Art of Simple in Santa Rosa Beach
- 30A Chiropractic & Wellness, the center's newest healthcare tenant, joining Ascension Sacred Heart Primary Care and the Ascension Sacred Heart Women's Diagnostic Center already onsite
The most talked-about food opening is Scout Sports Tavern, from Quest Hospitality Concepts, the group behind Fonville Press and The Citizen in Alys Beach. If you have eaten at either of those, the Scout pedigree tells you what to expect: elevated pub food and craft cocktails rather than a big-box sports bar.
Alongside newer arrivals, the anchor tenants still doing the heavy lifting include Publix Super Market, Starbucks, J.McLaughlin, Summer House Lifestyle, Ambrosia Prime Seafood and Steaks, Fleet Feet, Village Market, Marco's Pizza, Bahama Buck's, Grand Nails Lounge, Capital City Bank, and FedEx Office.
30Avenue is holding its lane
Across US-98, 30Avenue has kept its identity as the dinner-and-drinks side of the street. The current dining roster reads Aja Elevated Asian, Amici 30A Italian Kitchen, Amigo's 30A Mexican Kitchen, Canopy Road Cafe, Cuvee 30A, Goatfeathers Seafood Market, Idyll Hound Proper, and Marble Slab Creamery.
The reservation to book if you have not is still Cuvee 30A, Chef Tim Creehan's casual fine-dining room, which has held the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence every year from 2016 through 2025 and is the only restaurant on 30A currently holding it. It runs dinner Monday through Saturday from 4 to 9:30 pm and is closed Sunday, with a bar-only happy hour from 4 to 7 pm. Attycat's Arcade and 30A Olive Oil Co. are the two 30Avenue tenants most locals underuse, one for a rainy afternoon with kids, one for the shelf-stable gifts you actually want to bring back from a trip north.
Here is the practical division of labor between the two hubs on a normal week:
| Errand | 30Avenue | Watersound Town Center |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly groceries | — | Publix |
| Quick lunch | Canopy Road Cafe, Amigo's | Jersey Mike's, Marco's Pizza |
| Date night | Cuvee 30A, Aja | Ambrosia, Scout Sports Tavern |
| Workout | — | Lagree 30A, Fleet Feet |
| Primary care / dermatology | — | Ascension Sacred Heart, Dermatology Specialists of Florida |
| Gift for the host | 30A Olive Oil Co., Not Too Shabby | Art-of-Fact(s), J.McLaughlin |
| Kid distraction | Attycat's Arcade, Marble Slab | The Pavilion events, Bahama Buck's |
That table did not exist as a real choice for residents even eighteen months ago. Half the Watersound column was empty.
The underpass is the quiet infrastructure story
The most consequential piece of news for daily life is not a shop. It is the pedestrian and cyclist underpass beneath US-98 at Inlet Beach, which officially opened after a ribbon-cutting reported by WMBB. Scenic Walton's executive director Leigh Moore described it as a safety response to a project that started roughly ten years earlier, when business owners and residents began noticing how many people were trying to cross a four-lane highway on foot.
For the current resident, this means one thing: the two commercial hubs on either side of Highway 98 finally function as one. You can pedal from a Watersound Origins driveway to happy hour at Cuvee 30A without loading a bike rack. The Timpoochee Trail feeds directly into that corridor, so a slightly ambitious loop takes in Rosemary Beach and the eastern regional beach access without ever touching a car.
A resident's Saturday, mapped
To make the change concrete, here is what a full day looks like using only businesses inside the Inlet Beach city limits, in order:
- Coffee and a pastry at Canopy Road Cafe on the 30Avenue side, or The Donut Hole if the kids are voting.
- A 45-minute class at Lagree 30A across the underpass at Watersound Town Center.
- Groceries and a Publix sub for the beach cooler.
- Two hours at the Inlet Beach Regional Access on South Orange Street, which is the largest county access in South Walton with 117 parking spaces and three dune walkovers. Snorkelers can find the Cobia Reef roughly 250 to 300 feet offshore, marked by yellow poles about 50 paces west of the main boardwalk.
- Rinse-off and a book on the sand at Camp Helen State Park, half a mile east, on the edge of Lake Powell.
- Late lunch or an oyster stop at Goatfeathers Seafood Market back at 30Avenue.
- A haircut or blowout, then early dinner on the patio at Amici or a full tasting at Cuvee 30A.
- Beach bonfire permits and setup handled by 30A Dawn Till Dusk Bonfires or Beach Brothers Beach Service for anyone who wants to end the night on the sand.
That itinerary uses one 4-mile driving radius and zero highway crossings on foot.
What to watch in the next six months
Two additional buildings are planned to break ground at Watersound Town Center in 2026, with retailers to be announced. Johnnie-O is expected to open before summer ends. The Pavilion at Watersound Town Center has settled into a rhythm of markets, live music and community events that tend to draw a locals-heavy crowd on weeknights. On the 30Avenue side, Idyll Hound Proper and Aja Elevated Asian remain the two newer rooms most worth trying if you have not been in the past year.
For anyone who moved to Inlet Beach for the beach and stayed for the quiet, the honest read of 2026 is this: the commercial base finally fits the residential base. You can live here without commuting west for a workout or east for a prescription refill. The tourist economy has not gone anywhere, but it is no longer the only thing the east end is built to serve.
If you own a home in Inlet Beach or are watching the east end from a distance, the team at Garrett Bode tracks these openings, the underpass traffic patterns, and how they shape resale and rental performance block by block. Reach out when you want a read that goes deeper than a directory. Start Your Beach Search.
