Mayor meets with Sweetbay officials, stores slashing prices ahead of closings

Sweetbay stores slated for closure, like the one in Midtown St. Pete, are slashing prices as much as 50 percent to clear the shelves.

Mayor Bill Foster went to Gainesville Tuesday night to meet with Sweetbay officials, trying to convince them to keep that store open. He said the store is crucial to redevelopment in the area.

City Councilman Wengay Newton said he doesn't know anything about the mayor's meeting, but he fears it's too little too late.

“I hope he's successful, but in reality I think it's a little too late for that. There's no more trucks coming, they have stopped the truck deliveries to this location,” said Newton. "Actions speak louder than words. So you can have a letter writing campaign, you can call back and forth but actions speak louder than words and looks like to me they're winding this down to shut the doors."

The city has already spent more than $7 million to improve the area around Tangerine Plaza where the Sweetbay is located and residents said they'll feel the loss.

"There are a lot of elderly people, a lot of disabled people, a lot of disenfranchised people who don't have vehicles to travel other places so everyone obviously needs food," said Catrenia Wilson-Paul, "so I don't understand why they wouldn't keep this store open."

The shopping center's landlord attended the meeting with Foster.

We made numerous attempts to contact Foster to find out what happened but so far we have not heard back from him.

As of right now, the Midtown store is scheduled to close Feb. 13.

List of stores in Florida that will close by mid-February: