Sweetbay Supermarket was a chain of
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
s located in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The first Sweetbay Supermarket to open was in
Seminole, Florida
Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census.
History
The first white settlement at Seminole was made in the 1840s. This community was named after the Seminole tribe whose descendant ...
, in November 2004. The company's headquarters was located near
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
, in
Hillsborough County,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. It was a part of the
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
Delhaize Group
Delhaize Group SA (, ) was a Belgian multinational retail company headquartered in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium, and operated in seven countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group was the operation of f ...
. In May 2013, the chain was purchased by
BI-LO. On October 8, 2013, BI-LO announced it was retiring the Sweetbay name and all remaining locations would be re-branded as
Winn-Dixie.
History
Kash n' Karry
Salvatore Greco, an Italian immigrant, sold fruits and vegetables in the streets of Tampa beginning in 1914. In 1922, he and his wife Giuseppina opened a storefront at their home. The Greco family built a proper store in 1947 under the name Big Barn in
Plant City, Florida
Plant City is an incorporated city in Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County, Florida, United States, approximately midway between Brandon, Florida, Brandon and Lakeland, Florida, Lakeland along Interstate 4. The population was 39,764 at ...
. The business expanded and they had opened nine stores by 1960 with the name of Tampa Wholesale. In 1962, the name changed again to Kash n' Karry, based on the
cash and carry program of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. People would bring in their "cash" and "carry" out their own groceries. They left out nonessential parts of supermarkets like contests, customer service representatives, and samples.
Kash n' Karry was acquired by
Lucky Stores
Lucky Stores is an American supermarket chain founded in San Leandro, California, in 1935. Lucky is currently operated by Albertsons in Utah and Save Mart Supermarkets in Northern California.
In 1998, Lucky's parent company, American Stores, ...
of California in 1979.
After
American Stores
American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1998. The company was incorporated in 1917 when The Acme Tea Company merged ...
acquired Lucky in 1988, it sold Kash n' Karry to leveraged buyout firm Gibbons, Green, and van Amerongen. As the buyout was being completed, Kash n' Karry bought 24 Florida Choice supermarkets from
Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...
, who was closing the chain. When Gibbons, Green and van Amerongen dissolved,
Leonard Green & Partners
Leonard Green & Partners ("LGP") is an American private equity investment firm founded in 1989 and based in Los Angeles. The firm specializes in private equity investments. LGP has invested in over 95 companies since its inception, including Petc ...
became the controlling stockholder.
Kash n' Karry filed for bankruptcy in 1994.
Kash n' Karry held an IPO in 1995. In December 1996, Kash n' Karry became a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Food Lion
Food Lion is an American regional grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States (Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North ...
, the American division of
Delhaize Group
Delhaize Group SA (, ) was a Belgian multinational retail company headquartered in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Brussels, Belgium, and operated in seven countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group was the operation of f ...
.
In July 2000, after Food Lion's acquisition of
Hannaford, the
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
Delhaize America, Inc., was created. As a result, Kash n' Karry became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delhaize America.
In 2002, Kash n' Karry pulled out of the competitive
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...
market with only two stores remaining in Clermont, Florida; 25 miles west of Orlando. Two of the chains three stores in
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
were also closed.
On August 29, 2007, the last Kash n' Karry store in Crystal River, Florida, closed, marking the end of the Kash n' Karry brand and the full conversion to Sweetbay Supermarket.
Sweetbay
In January 2004, after years of slumping sales growth, Kash n' Karry announced the creation and rollout of a new supermarket concept called Sweetbay Supermarket in its core markets on the West Coast of Florida. The first of the new Sweetbay Supermarkets opened in
Seminole, Florida
Seminole is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. The population was 19,364 at the 2020 census.
History
The first white settlement at Seminole was made in the 1840s. This community was named after the Seminole tribe whose descendant ...
, on November 6, 2004, and in
Fort Myers
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 20 ...
in December 2004. By September 2007, all Kash n' Karry stores were redesigned as Sweetbay Supermarkets.
In 2008, Sweetbay became the official supermarket of the
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...
baseball club.
In January 2013, Sweetbay announced that 33 stores would close, leaving the chain with 72 stores. The closings were attributed to competition from regional grocery chain
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and ...
and national chain
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
. The closings included the two remaining stores in Clermont, ending the company's presence in the Orlando market.
In May 2013, Sweetbay and its sister supermarket chains
Harveys and
Reid's
Reid's was an 11-store chain located in various rural South Carolina communities, specifically Barnwell, Orangeburg, Langley, New Ellenton, Batesburg, Walterboro, St. George, Aiken, Saluda, Cayce, and Hampton. Most of these stores were al ...
were sold to
BI-LO LLC for $265 million. Also included in the transaction were leases to 10 Sweetbay locations that closed in January 2013.
On October 8, 2013, BI-LO announced it would retire the Sweetbay brand, and rename all Sweetbay locations to Winn-Dixie. The following month, it was announced that the Tampa headquarters would permanently closed.
Hannaford
When Sweetbay was created, it was modeled after Delhaize's Hannaford brand, incorporating store design, logo/branding elements, and pricing strategy from its northeastern sister company. Additionally, Sweetbay stocked Hannaford-branded products as its generic store brand until 2011, when all Delhaize America stores began offering the Healthy Accents brand (for health & beauty items), the Home 360 brand (for home products) and the My Essentials brand (for food products).
In March 2008, Hannaford Supermarkets announced a data intrusion that resulted in the theft of customer credit and debit card numbers. No personal information, such as names or addresses, was accessed. The intrusion not only affected Hannaford stores, but also Sweetbay stores in Florida, and certain independently owned retail locations in the Northeast that carried Hannaford products. The company was aware of about 1,800 cases of fraud related to the data intrusion and about 4.2 million unique account numbers were exposed.
References
{{Supermarkets of the United States
Supermarkets of the United States
Companies based in Tampa, Florida
Retail companies established in 1947
Retail companies disestablished in 2014
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1994
1947 establishments in Florida
2014 disestablishments in Florida
Private equity portfolio companies