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Bealls Moves To Larger Site

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By LOIS KINDLE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 24, 2007

Updated: 11/22/2007 02:33 am

RUSKIN - About 100 people braved the first cold snap of the fall waiting for the newest Bealls department store to open Nov. 16.

Housed in the Cypress Village Shopping Center, the 68,000-square-foot store will replace the location in Ruskin's Sun Point Shopping Center, which will remain open until April.

"We decided to enlarge and improve our store in the Sun City Center area in response to loyal customer patronage," said Gwen Bennett, vice president of advertising and eCommerce, in a recent media release. "The new store will provide a more customer-friendly shopping experience."

Bealls has operated in the Sun City Center area since 1984.

When Wal-Mart opened a new super center at U.S. 301 and State Road 674 in April, Bealls took advantage of the opportunity to relocate and expand its floor space in the home of the former Wal-Mart.

The new store at 3846 State Road 674 has more than double the floor space of the Sun Point location, which will allow Bealls to offer more name-brand merchandise, a larger shoe department, a toy department and wider aisles.

Bennett said "hot items" on opening day were fleece jackets and griddles, both of which were priced at $14.99 each.

"Lots of people were buying Christmas gifts," she said.

In business since 1914, Bealls Department Stores is a division of Bealls Inc. The Bradenton-based privately-held retailer operates more than 500 stores in 13 states. For information, call (941) 747-2355 or visit www.Bealls Florida.com.

Reporter Lois Kindle can be reached at (813) 865-1553 or lkindle@tampatrib.com.

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