Sweetbay to close 33 stores in Florida (Gainesville, Brent: home, neighborhood, grocer)

[Gatornation]

Publix has grocery on lock down. Wal-Mart/Target/Whole Foods/Trader Joes all can survive around Publix as they cater to a different main audience.

[jzcrandall]

I've only been to the Sweetbay in Gainesville, and I wasn't that impressed. My top three grocery stores around the country are Kroger, Wegman's, and Publix.

[burbdweller]

Most Krogers are dumps too, but some of their newer stores are nice. But they dont hold a candle to Publix. There are no dumpy publix stores. Even their few stores in sketchy area are nice. They usually close or dont open stores in the ghetto, they leave that nonsense to places like Sweet Bay and Winn Dixie.

[algia]

Originally Posted by burbdweller

You must have never encountered some of the grocery store chains we dont have here like Piggly Wiggly. They made Food Lion look like the Taj Mahal.

Most of the Winn-Dixie's that are still around are total dumps too, and any Albertsons still around.

Albersons always sucked...and stunk. I went to a Piggly Wiggly in NC, and it was disastrous.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by burbdweller

Most Krogers are dumps too, but some of their newer stores are nice. But they dont hold a candle to Publix. There are no dumpy publix stores. Even their few stores in sketchy area are nice. They usually close or dont open stores in the ghetto, they leave that nonsense to places like Sweet Bay and Winn Dixie.

I've been to Kroger's in Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Texas, and I've never been in a dumpy store. There are some that are older, sure. None of them have compared to Winn-Dixie, Piggly Wiggly, or Food Lion.

Kroger is the 2nd largest grocery retailer to Walmart, and their stores are very nice.

At the same time, I've been in a dumpy Publix or two in my time. Usually they were older stores, but I'll agree that they're way above places like Albertsons.

[BucFan]

Krogers in Georgia were very nice. Much nicer than anything I see here in this area. Wished we'd get a few down here.

[TXRyan23]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Krogers in Georgia were very nice. Much nicer than anything I see here in this area. Wished we'd get a few down here.

When I worked for Kroger, I ended up as an Asst. Manager, I heard many excuses as to why Kroger hadn't returned to Florida (I believe they left sometime in the 80's) One was competition. Albertsons, Publix, Win-Dixie, and Walmart were major competition. I've also had heard that Kroger didn't want to have to pay employees higher wages in Florida like they did in other locations. Kroger is a unionized company and I'd assume moving back into the Florida market would be a tough sell.

I did hear a rumor that they were thinking about buying the abandoned Albertsons locations. They've done that here in Houston. Albertsons left maybe 4-5 years ago and Kroger's been buying up their old locations pretty quickly. There's actually one store in West Houston that's open, as a Kroger, and still has the Albertsons aisle signs hanging from the roof.

I think Kroger still operates a chain of gas stations in the state called Tom Thumb.

[burbdweller]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Krogers in Georgia were very nice. Much nicer than anything I see here in this area. Wished we'd get a few down here.

The new or remodeled ones are. The older ones are dumps.

Same with Ingles

[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by burbdweller

There are no dumpy publix stores.

Think again. The Publix on East Lake Road in Palm Harbor is a dump. I hate going in there. I much preferred the Sweetbay down the road.

[The Villages Guy]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Krogers in Georgia were very nice. Much nicer than anything I see here in this area. Wished we'd get a few down here.

Yep. I have been in some real nice Krogers. Not all, but most.