GTB Area Retail Blog

(Post updated on September 1, 2024, now with additional information courtesy of  the Albertsons Florida Blog ) Food World #715/Publix #356/Future Publix #2043 4730 S. Florida Ave, Lakeland, FL - Lake Miriam Square Originally opened on November 15, 1977 as Publix's discount grocery store called Food World, not to be confused with the unrelated Bruno's chain of the same name. This store was Publix's largest at 58,880 square feet upon opening and was also their first store to feature barcode scanning at the checkouts. In 1988, Publix retired the Food World name, and this location became Publix #356. A pharmacy was added during a late 2004/early 2005 remodel to the Kiwi Environment Package, and then received a deluxe remodel to the Sienna Enviroment Package in 2012 along with the addition of a cooking school (closed on August 31, 2023), followed by a Sienna Lite refresh in 2018. This store closed on July 6, 2024 and will be replaced by Publix #2043, a larger 62U (a variant of t

Since I haven't done any blog posts in a while, I just found out today that there is a new brand of gas stations in the Tampa Bay Area that is called 76. This location opened on April 20, 2024 and also features a Daybreak Market convenience store. The first 2 photos shows the building during construction in October 2023, and the last photo is the finished product, taken on May 4, 2024. This gas station and convenience store is located at 10320 US 301, Riverview, FL 33569.

Planned Jewel-Osco #4105/Planned Albertsons #4408/Eckerd #3499/CVS #5148 1904 W. Lumsden Rd, Brandon, FL Before Eckerd and later CVS opened their doors on Lumsden Road, there were two lots. One of the lots was used for Planned Jewel-Osco #4105/Planned Albertsons #4408. Albertsons later wanted build a store in 1996, but that was rejected. In the late 1990s, the empty lot was subdivided for some restaurants and an Eckerd drugstore. Eckerd #3499 opened in 1997, and was converted to CVS #5148 in 2004. (Updated on 1/21/2024, originally published on 2/22/2019)