Sports Authority, 4900 West Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, Florida (Lakeland: 2013, homes)

[Carolina Knight]

Sports Authority was a 38,000-square-foot sporting goods retail store located at 4900 West Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, Florida 33609-1802, between South Occident Street and South Gardenia Avenue in the City of Tampa in Hillsborough County, Florida. It was renovated in 2013. It closed in 2016 when Sports Authority went bankrupt and closed all 450 remaining stores.

Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets is proposing a 36,564-square-foot Publix supermarket on the site of the former Sports Authority.

Images

• Proposed Publix exterior elevations
• Proposed Publix site plan

Further reading

• Griffin, Justine. "Sports Authority to close all its stores including 12 in the Tampa Bay area." Tampa, Florida: Tampa Bay Times. 18 May 2016.
• Kritzer, Ashley Gurbal. "Westshore looks closer than ever to landing a Publix store." Tampa Bay Business Journal. 8 November 2017.
• Kritzer, Ashley Gurbal. "Publix homes in on dark Westshore box." Tampa Bay Business Journal. 18 December 2017.
• Thurston, Susan. "Sports Authority store at Tampa's WestShore completes major renovation." Tampa, Florida: Tampa Bay Times. 4 June 2013.

[BucFan]

Hope it works out. I'm sure they've done the demographic studies.

[DUNNDFRNT]

That is a good place for one, the traffic is going to be tricky the lot is not that big, yea i think a greenwise would work out best, big lunch crowds, a parking garage. It's going to be busy I am not a fan of proposed design.

[Carolina Knight]

GreenWise Market, Publix's specialty organic/gourmet grocery banner, is in the process of being rebooted.

If Publix's proposed store was larger than its 39m (39,000 square feet) prototype, a multi-level store with above-store or below-store parking would have to be considered.

[sinatras]

They are not going to be building larger, money-losing stores.

Like everything else already has, grocery is moving online.

Publix will be trying to figure out how to make a profit with half the people wanting to shop in-store, while the other half don't want to do anything beyond clicking the "reorder Yoplait yogurt" button. Every week I meet more and more people who have not set foot in a grocery store in months. Last week a Publix cashier told me she gets everything delivered. "Shipt and Ubereats are my best friends." I was astonished b/c A, she works at Publix, can't she just shop after work? B, how can she afford it?

This has been the topic at every holiday party I have been to.

"I buy something on Amazon once a day."

"I love getting boxes delivered to my door."

"I can get better quality food delivered to my house. Why would I waste my time at Publix?"


Anyway, good luck to Publix and all the rest of the grocery operators in the middle of this dilemma.

[Carolina Knight]

Online grocery ordering has been around for twenty years. A majority of customers still prefer shopping at supermarkets and other grocery retailers. Customers like easier access to items and services at a store location, want customer service, and want store locations nearby. If online ordering and delivery was affordable, more customers could consider using that option.

Supermarket Publix continues to open additional stores in varying sizes and operates many successful and profitable stores.

Shipt, if its acquisition by Target is finalized, may not be partnering with Publix and any other retailer. I project Shipt will be exclusive to Target stores including Target discount department stores and SuperTargey hypermarkets.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Online grocery ordering has been around for twenty years. A majority of customers still prefer shopping at supermarkets and other grocery retailers. Customers like easier access to items and services at a store location, want customer service, and want store locations nearby.

Supermarket Publix continues to open additional stores in varying sizes and operates many successful and profitable stores.

Shipt, if its acquisition by Target is finalized, may not be partnering with Publix and any other retailer. I project Shipt will be exclusive to Target stores including Target discount department stores and SuperTargey hypermarkets.

Online grocery as it is today is NOTHING like it was 20 years ago. It is leaps and bounds more efficient, shopper friendly and widespread across the world.

I'm sure Shipt will be great for Target. Shipt as a national grocery deliv service was eclipsed by Instacart a long time ago. The Publix cashier I cited will have Instacart and a plethora of other delivery alternatives. And behind Instacart comes Postmates and many many others. Amazon may buy Lyft for grocery delivery.

Like I said, good luck to Publix and all the rest of the grocery operators in the middle of this dilemma.

The new Beach Park Publix will be less than a mile from my house. Unless they build a taco bar or a sushi bar in the store, there will be no reason for me to go there, as I already get everything I need from Amazon, Boxed.com, Sprouts and meat/seafood suppliers who sell online. The only thing I'm interested in from a physical grocery store at this point is (quality) prepared food that is cheaper than takeout.

I don't think Publix is interested in expanding foodservice tho. Too bad. The profit margins in prepared foods are much higher than on dry goods.

[Carolina Knight]

Online ordering and delivery has not changed as a service. Efficiency and user-friendly technology has improved. Population has increased. Demand has not increased significantly.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Carolina Knight

Online ordering and delivery has not changed as a service. Efficiency and user-friendly technology has improved. Population has increased. Demand has not increased significantly.

If demand for grocery delivery has not increased significantly, then why is every food retailer falling over itself to offer it?

Every food retailer from Publix to Meijer to Kroger to Hy-Vee has greatly expanded grocery delivery and pickup this year. Target just spent hundreds of millions to buy Shipt so it can offer same day delivery. Nielsen projects grocery e-commerce will grow at a combined average rate of 12.2% through 2020, and grow to $100 billion over the next decade.

Don't be afraid of disruption.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by sinatras

If demand for grocery delivery has not increased significantly, then why is every food retailer falling over itself to offer it?

I can't say I know one individual who uses it. And most of the people I know are computer savy and trust computer ordering (ie many use amazon a lot). There's something about visually seeing, handling and picking out groceries - unlike buying other goods.