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.