Seed to Table trending on Twitter for video showing lack of masks

A controversial grocery store owner and his business in Southwest Florida are going viral on social media.

Owner Alfie Oakes and his business Seed to Table in Collier County are trending on Twitter Thursday after for a video posted that shows no one wearing masks inside his store.

It comes after Oakes’ lawsuit over the mask mandate in Collier County was dismissed.

“At this point, it just seems like we already won,” Oakes told WINK News. “The big win for us was the magistrate saying that their mask law, because they did it illegally, is unenforceable.”

A video showing unmasked employees and customers at Seed to Table is drawing national attention.

Collier County business owner Diana Redetezke says it’s putting Collier County in the wrong spotlight.

“We own a business too,” Redetezke said. “I think everybody should have a mask. A lot of people don’t want to, but just protect everybody.”

When we visited Seed to Table Thursday, we saw many people and workers without masks, but also plenty wearing face coverings.

The freedom to choose is the reason John Kathy shops at Oakes’ grocery store.

“Florida is a little bit better. People come down here, and they look at this is odd,” Kathy said. “But this is really not odd. This is what the normal should be.”

We asked Oakes what’s next.

“It’s never over for us … But we will keep fighting for what is right,” Oakes said.

The Collier County attorney told us he won’t comment about ongoing litigation. There’s still time to appeal.

Oakes is happy for the national attention and says more businesses need to stand for what he calls freedom of choice.

“Right now, it’s not impacting us, so we don’t have to bring it back,” Oakes said. “Right now, we are living freely right here. We’re unmasked. We’re happy. All the people love this store. We’re the busiest store in Collier County because of this, so there’s no reason to do anything at this time.”