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St. Petersburg better innovate to land another Midtown grocer after Walmart, Sweetbay failures

 
When Walmart opened its store in St. Petersburg's Midtown neighborhood Jan. 29, 2014, hopes of success were high. Now, it's preparing to close the store in March. [Times file photo]

When Walmart opened its store in St. Petersburg's Midtown neighborhood Jan. 29, 2014, hopes of success were high. Now, it's preparing to close the store in March. [Times file photo]
Published Jan. 24, 2017

This column was updated Tuesday morning with a comment by St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.

Finding a viable supermarket to anchor Tangerine Plaza in the heart of the economically challenged Midtown neighborhood of St. Petersburg runs the risk of becoming a task that repeats itself every few years.

Why is it so hard to find a grocery chain able to support this part of town?

A rethink might be in order.

Walmart last week said it is throwing in the towel after agreeing in 2014 to run one of its Neighborhood Market stores at the location on 22nd Street and 18th Avenue S. Last week, Walmart announced it will close to the public on March 3. Its pharmacy will shut down Feb. 1.

Previous coverage: Walmart is pulling out of St. Petersburg's Midtown neighborhood

Walmart's informed the state that 79 of its employees in "Store #6400," as it calls the Tangerine Plaza location, will lose their jobs by March 31.

Blindsided by Walmart's departure, city officials are asking the chain to reconsider.

How quaint. That request should have been made last summer, long before Walmart made the internal decision to ax its Midtown site as unprofitable and unnecessary.

If city officials, as landlords of Tangerine Plaza, had paid closer attention to the plight of the grocery store, would Walmart have stayed?

Probably not. In mid January, Walmart said it will close 23 Neighborhood Markets as part of a larger shuttering of 154 U.S. Walmarts that, in turn, is part of a total closing of 269 Walmart stores worldwide. That sounds like a lot except Walmart is one of the world's biggest retailers with more than 4,600 stores in this country alone. Its employs 2.2 million people.

The Midtown store just isn't big on Walmart's vast radar, though to be fair, the company at least tried to run a Midtown store for nearly three years before calling it quits.

Walmart's Tallahassee-based director of government relations and public affairs, Monesia Brown, insists the company "tried everything we can do," according to Tampa Bay Times reporting by Charlie Frago.

On Tuesday morning, in a response on Twitter to this column, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman points out that the city is not officially yet the owner or landlord of the shopping center — that process is still under way. But, he tweeted: "Working on it so we have the flexibility to rethink, bring sustained stability."

In recent days, the city has said it will yet again try and entice another grocery to Midtown.

The bench is thinning.

Remember, this all started way back in 2005 or so when supermarket chain Sweetbay (formerly called Kash n' Karry) opened in Midtown amid great fanfare. By 2013, the Sweetbay chain was struggling and started shuttering money-losing locations. Bye-bye Midtown.

Sure, city officials will reach out to some obvious players left in this market, chains like Save-A-Lot and Aldi.

Here's one glaring obstacle. The original Sweetbay space, later occupied by Walmart, is just too big. The city should subdivide the space.

A leaner footprint might tempt one of the grocery chains. Maybe a Family Dollar or similar store that offers food options could share the divided space.

After the Midtown failures of both Sweetbay and Walmart, the city better become more flexible to recruit any food store. Under the best conditions, running supermarkets is a thin-margin, competitive business.

Can the city be an innovative landlord? Will a new grocer anchor Midtown? It's worth every effort to try.

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com. Follow @venturetampabay.