The Mayor of St. Petersburg says he's hoping to buy some time with Sweetbay, and he could be one step closer to making that request.
The Sweetbay in Midtown is one of 33 stores set to close next month, but Mayor Bill Foster said he will continue to fight to keep the supermarket open. On Tuesday, he released a letter to Sweetbay executives, in which he asked the company to delay the closure for six months.
Foster also said that the city provided more than $1 million in expenses for the Midtown Sweetbay store, as well as several million dollars to acquire land and improving infrastructure in the area.
"Midtown residents are proud of this store and they have taken a sense of ownership and pride in Sweetbay's presence," he wrote in the letter.
Foster says he talked with a Sweetbay executive this week about setting up a meeting with the company's real estate department.
"I don’t know that we have financial options," Foster said. "Now, certainly part of the conversation with the real estate department will include the landlord of the property and the landlord may be in the position to make some rental concessions."
Foster said he had no idea how poorly the store was doing. However, Sweetbay officials said there was an April 2011 meeting between the then-president and Mayor Foster about the issue.
"We met to see how we can get more foot traffic into the store," supermarket spokesperson Nicole LeBeau said. "The meeting was to talk about working together. That's why we met with him."
Foster says he can't remember all the meetings he attends, but says he would remember a conversation like that.
"At no time did I have knowledge of any financial dire straits at this store that would have led to its impending closure," he said.
Sweetbay says 33 communities are dealing with closing stores, saying when a company doesn't make a profit, something has to be done.