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Sun City Center Sweetbay Closes

Tribune photo by LOIS KINDLE

The Sweetbay Supermarket at 789 Cortaro Drive is permanently closing Feb. 28, leaving people without cars only the close options of shopping at a nearby Save-A-Lot or Winn Dixie.

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By LOIS KINDLE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 27, 2009

Updated: 02/27/2009 01:41 pm

SUN CITY CENTER - In a community where residents often depend on bicycles and golf carts to pick up a few things at the local grocery store, Feb. 28 will be a sad day.

The Sweetbay Supermarket at 789 Cortaro Drive is permanently closing, leaving people without cars only the options of shopping at a nearby Save-A-Lot or Winn Dixie. The store originally opened as a Kash 'n Karry in 1989.

"I'm disappointed," said Phyllis Cason of Freedom Plaza. "Naturally, when you come to depend on a business, it makes things more difficult when it's gone."

Chason is one of the lucky ones, actually. She has a car and drives. "I know a lot of other residents who don't," she said. "It's just like when Wal-Mart left [to relocate to State Road 674 and U.S. 301 in Wimauma].

"This is one of seven stores closing," said Sweetbay spokeswoman Lynn Peterson, adding the majority of them were due to expired leases. "This store was at the end of a 20-year lease obligation and its sales were not reaching the growth desired."

In other words, it wasn't making enough money to warrant another lease.

Peterson said most of the employees have been offered other positions within the organization. There are three other Sweetbays within a five-mile radius — one in Ruskin and Apollo Beach on U.S. 41 and one on Big Bend Road in Riverview.

"It's really too bad," said Marion Crick, a winter resident from Ontario. "When I read about it closing, I was really upset. We've been shopping here for years."

Lois Kindle

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