And heard the new Sweetbay is giving away a new golfcart during opening week.

i like the turkey breast in the deli it lunch or dinner without much fuss

I think Sweet Bay is Great! Should be a really nice place to shop. I like the one by Sumter Landing. Beautiful store.
Nice people.:pepper2:

Yeah! :pepper2:

YES YES YES! And so is the library!:pepper2:

I'm so happy it's another Walgreen's. LOVE Walgreen's! And my mom is moving to Providence apartments and she can go to Walgreen's too. I wish a Suntrust Bank would open there too.

OK, I guess I'll stop "opining" now. 5 posts in a row isn't a good thing........

What time is everyone getting there?

I've seen the ads in the DS and browsed this whole thread and nowhere is there an opening time!

For those that were around when Chick-fil-a opened, remember, people lined up at like 1AM to get the free sandwich!

:rolleyes:

Sweetbay opening will not make a difference as far as publix in colony. when they opened in sumter sales were same as before sweetbay opened. I will check the gross sales for the last 3 weeks of October and see if it made a difference. I work there and they share sales numbers with associates. Right now running around $850,000 a week.

Is that information public? I looked on their website but could not find gross sales by location.

I was wondering the same thing - is this information published for the public to see?

Publix is nice and I do about half my grocery shopping there. But geez.....most of us came from states and communities where there are NO Publix stores, and somehow none of us who moved here starved to death for lack of this particular store!

I kind of agree. Coming from Pittsburgh originally (and lately), it's hard to beat Giant Eagle, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. Giant Eagle especially has wide-open aisles and products galore. Their specialty stores have aged hanging meat and blah blah blah.

I'm over not having this stuff, but I do agree that grocery shopping can be adequately accomplished without struggling with Publix at Colony in the winter season.
I hope Sweetbay will alleviate some of the congestion.

There are five Publix on campus. If it gets unbearable you can get in your car and drive to one of the others. Or drive to Winn Dixie in Wildwood, or down 466A to Walmart in Fruitland Park.

It may be a little more difficult, but not impossible to get food.;)

and Koolaid.
http://cdn.overclock.net/d/d6/d640c7...d_oh_yeah.jpeg

just ask
 

While this info is not available to the general public, if you see a manager or assistant and ask what do your sales run a week, I am sure he would give you a general number. They don't give employees anything in writing, I just ask once in a while

Just in the new sweet bay this morning. It's a very nice store.

Just got back from the new Sweetbay...a beautiful store. Just love having a great market in this end of town!

Just returned from sweetbay, very nice store. While shopping a vendor saw my wis. badger cap and started talking about football. Said I had season tickets for many years and he said he played a little back in the 80's. His name was david greenwood and he was just inducted into the badger hall of fame this year. Read his bio, at the time considered the greatest high school athlete ever to come out of wis. He played in the usfl 14 games after college who played their games in the summer and then played every game for tampa bucs. That wore out his body and was never the same. He looked like he could still play today.

Was the new store crowded today? I have a friend who is working her first day as a cashier their and didn't know what to expect. I had heard rumors of when the other Sweetbay opened they gave away free pineapples for the first so many customers and they were swamped.

The parking lot was a zoo...not even a cart spot open. My wife left and went to Publix.

Here's a link to some of the new stores -- The Villages Commercial Property Management

almost impossible to find a parking spot. oddly, not bad at all inside. A lot of people obviously came to put entries in for the golf cart.

My husband went and said it was a zoo, but they had a great price on beer so he sucked it up!!!

Just Came back from New Sweetbay.
 

I love, love love it. It is bigger than the Publix in Colony. It is open and airy, You can get down the aisles even if there is something on display. The only time I ran into anyone was when waiting for a sample of wine. It was absolutely packed. The parking lot was even worse than Publix but I am sure that had something to do with the opening and the fact that some of the space is still under construction. Did I say I love it? :MOJE_whot::bigbow: I am such a Happy Camper. Cheaper, more accessible and closer by half. Woo Hoo,

The Publix website indicates that average store sales are a little over $500,000 per week.

Thanks. That is general information, I was looking for store specific. Guess I will just have to ask the manager...................I bet he says $500,000.

Don't think sweetbay is larger than publix, maybe close. As for $5000,000 sales in a week, you would have to go back several years at colony to find one that low. Once we get to jan., 1 million dollar weeks will be the norm.

Bogie, I wonder if a public company that published that kind of detail would risk micro-managing by these shareholder activists. Management could be pressured to close a single under performing store in spite of the hurt that might put on a given community.

lovely new store, with such wide aisles. the deli was a bit inefficient, the cases were small, and the cold air kept blowing up the legs of my shorts. actually the store was entirely too cold. i like the one at lake sumter and probably will frequent it more often as it is a more manageable shopping experience. publix is way too crowded.

Boars Head products - the best!

Companies show what details they need to further their goals. Not what does not... It is as it should be. Analyists will speculate on the details but as records show, they never get it right... Shareholders can and are played like fiddles.

Smart companies manage their culture and image as they should.

[...

I loved the old Sweetbay when we were there. The one near The Village of Caroline.
Looking forward to seeing the new one.

Where exactly is the new one? In relation to which set of Villages?????

At the time, the workers there told me it was really a Hannaford out of Maine....which we are familiar with in our Vermont town.

When we were in Maine this summer.....we all used the Hannaford.....a great store.

Recently I read that Food Lion (?) bought out Sweetbay? Hopefully, it will stay as nice as it was when we shopped there......in The Villages.

Sally, I'm glad you like it (you must be my neighbor...it's a tad closer for me too)...
I hope nobody but me sticks with Publix. Sweetbay feels like going back in time...stores where my mother would stand and talk to people for days while I had to squirm and stand there, useless.

What road is it located on???? We know where the original Sweetbay is.
Near Lake Sumter Landing. Where is this new one?

We used the Sweetbay when we were at Creekside Landing; it had a great produce department, wonderful bakery, etc., etc. and was a nice manageable sized store........

However, when we had to move over to the rental, we then went to the Publix which was o.k. and closer, but their bakery products, etc., etc. were not as good as Sweetbay. That Publix was in the Mulberry Grove shopping center.
It was fine, but not as good as Sweetbay.

However, if it really was taken over by Food Lion, then nothing is written in stone. But....at the time, we preferred Sweetbay. Food Lion has had some bad write-ups re other stores in other parts of Florida over the decades.

p.s. Kitty, Our moms and grandmothers shopped at old small A&P supermarkets........Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. I still remember her pulling the shopping cart home. 1950's. In the war years of the '40s everything was rationed; things like butter, sugar, etc. and womens nylon stockings, car tires, etc. Back then, even smaller stores.

Not like Sweetbay at all. My mom was born in 1911. Her mom in 1889.
Probably just had the farmer's market and a corner grocery store.

When we moved up here, they still had an A&P and we all loved it.
At the time it had very fresh produce and everyone knew the butcher; he was our neighbor.

There is something to be said for a smaller supermarket......as far as getting in and out more quickly.

The new Sweetbay is on 466A out in the direction of Brownwood, near Pinellas, near Wildwood on the west side of The Villages. And boy, it is beautiful! Clean, wide aisles, lots of light, employees very friendly and helpful.

Sounds very nice. Thank you. The employees in the original store were also very friendly and just struck up a conversation......small world that it is, they had been to the town we live in.......and knew all the historic monuments, etc. and even the "big chair" out on the flats (by a furniture store)....again, small world. The new store sounds just as nice. Thanks again......

I love the new Sweetbay, I agree, it's bright, clean and wide aisles. So glad it opened.

An article in today's Tampa Bay Times said that as soon as the sale of Sweet Bay to Bi-Lo Holdings is finalized, the Sweet Bay name will be retired and converted to the Winn-Dixie brand. The name change is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2014.

This would be a plus for us. We shop mainly at the Winn Dixie in Wildwood, as it is less crowded, parking is good, and discounts on gas. So if Sweetbay becomes Winn Dixie with the same gas perks, it would be closer for us to shop there.