Steer clear of Sweetbay
 

Went yesterday to get bread, milk, etc. They have none. Produce section, bakery section, dairy, all empty. They do have BEER though.:MOJE_whot:
I guess they are emptying the store for the make over.

I work at publix colony and i thought it was busier than usual for a thursday. I don't know why they closed a week before easter which is a busy shopping week so they have brought in extra help at publix starting today thru next week to help with the crowds.

This is a headline from the online Village news and I always thought it was kinda strange? Why so long for a change over? This decision and the other about changing the name Sweetbay to Winn Dixie are both dumb marketing decisions by WD management, IMO. Hope this isn't an indication of what to expect by the new stores. I loved Sweetbay so I'm not a happy customer.

Villages Sweetbay stores to close April 12, reopen as Winn-Dixie on April 18

Would it make it better if they kept the Sweetbay name but restocked the store with Winn Dixie brand products? Kind of a ease you into the change until one day, later on, the store sign is changed to Winn Dixie and then by that time it will not be a change.

I think there should have been a role reversal here but money always talks. Sweetbay should have bought Winn Dixie and changed them over to the much brighter Sweetbay!

Just my observations:

Publix = Very Crowded
Winn Dixie = Busy
Sweetbay = Mostly Empty

My experience as well.

I thought Sweetbay was closing April 6th and reopen ins April 12th. That is the information that was posted in the LSL store earlier last month. Which store were you in?

Just my observation:

Publix & Winn Dixie are located at the outsides of The Villages so they have shoppers from the local towns in addition to Villagers

Sweetbay is located right downtown at LSL, so the shoppers are mainly Villagers.

Pinellas Plaza store has signs that say closing April 12 at 11am, not sure about Lake Sumter store.

A week is not a lot of time to inventory current Sweetbay products, restock, switch electronics, build electronic inventories, and train employees of new company procedures. It's only a week folks, be patient.

I wouldn't write the store off just yet. Many employees who work there do a great job and are hoping you'll give them a fair try. I imagine they are quite nervous about this change.

Painful Publix
 

I know that I will do almost anything not to have to go to Publix in Colony. It's just not worth my time to fight the crowds. I went there yesterday to pick up probably a dozen small items (after I had headed to Sweet Bay to discover they were empty) and it took me 45 minutes to get my items and check out. I will now travel to 466 to get to the grocery store until Winn Dixie opens. They will get my business as long as they continue with good customer service and the store stays clean.

I regularly shop at Sweetbay in Belleview. They are closing the 12th and will re-open on the 21st. They are currently clearing out ALL of the Sweetbay/Hannford private label brands by selling them a large discounts because WD is NOT licensed to sell the Sweetbay private brands, so anything not sold must be destroyed. While they are closed the stores will be redesigned per the WD floor master plan, so they need time to change the store layouts, bring in the WD private label items and change the store register and computer systems over to WD's system.

466a
 

Sorry, I was speaking of the Sweetbay on 466A. But I guess they are all doing te same.

My observation
Publix at Colony are many people who like to block the isles and eat free samples and chew with their mouth open.
Publix at 466 efficient, down to business, get in and get out.
Sweetbay six months ago GREAT
Walmart at the right time perfect unless you want to eat the meat, or fish.
And finally Fresh Market. Fun to watch folks putting their finger in the samples
and eating all they can for free between 4 and 6pm
and YES I have written and complained to management and they all say "what can we do"? I only buy packaged products and avoid the vats of dry goods.

WD has the worst, most illogical, baffling, frustrating "set" (floor plan) of any grocery store in the known and charted world!!

they are making it winn dixie..opens on the 18th...should be nice....a nice new store..with nice fresh produce...yippeeeeeeee

I really liked the Sweetbay at Pinellas Plaza.
I didn't think they had the same range of selections that Publix has but it was clean and easy to get in and out of because it wasn't crowded.
I also thought their branded products were good.
The new Winn-Dixie of course will be clean and new, I'm just wondering what their brand will taste like.
Hope its' good.
If it is, thats where I will be shopping.

:agree: Patience is needed, as this will be resolved, by next week.

This too shall pass. :smiley:

Saw the crane in front of Lake Sumter store this morning...looks like they are in the process of changing the sign there.

I didn't say they were good, bad or awful. Just saying what the Sweetbay store manager in Belleview told me.

There is one thing that I'm going to truly miss from Sweetbay, and it's the primary reason I would go there. Yes..this will sound strange..but so be it. The Sweetbay private label cottage cheese (Hannaford) is made under contract by Crowley's Dairy in Binghamton, NY. I came from that area and grew up on Crowley's dairy products. I really like their cottage cheese, and now, I won't be able to get it anymore. :cryin2:

I was there the other day and after finding a parking space then had to find a shopping cart which were all gone. Back out to the parking lot to find a cart. Navigating around the store I learned not to go around the area of the check-out lanes as they were all backed up into the isles making going by nearly impossible.
Don't blame Publix since they are doing all they can by bringing in more help and all registers are open. The parking lot is what it is and the store size is what it is. I just would like to buy some of their stock but they are a private company. Every area in Florida that I've lived in, Publix was by far the most popular grocery store. They need to build their stores with wider isles as in the new Sweet Bay or soon to be Winn Dixie.

I wish Publix at Colony had those little shopping carts like Sweetbay. I wonder if Winn-Dixie will keep them.

As it is, the Publix shopping carts take up way too many precious cubic feet. More customers could fit in the store if they had the smaller carts.

Good point. Those carts are an overkill since most never come even near to filling one. At least though they all work good.

I forgot all about those carts. They are awesome!!

I too hope Winn-Dixie keeps them.

Phoned in a prescription to Sweetbay's, as I've used them in the past. Went to pick it up early Sunday afternoon as was advised, got there at 230pm and unable to enter the store and was instructed to come back Monday. Went back Monday and had to make my way through a bunch of workers by the door smoking.....phewww, got to the pharmacy and was advised I had to sign up for some Winn Dixie program. Advised them to keep the prescription and went to Publix.

We shop at the Winn Dixie in Wildwood, and they have always had the small carts, so I imagine they will have them at Pinellas too.