Put a bullseye on E.L. Woodlands Publix

East Lake Woodland’s Publix has been around for… Oh, I don’t know how long… It’s on the cusp of the ritzy and posh Pinellas suburb of East Lake and draws shoppers form East Lake, Oldsmar, Palm Harbor and Saftey Harbor…

…in the smallest Publix in the area.

The store is almost always under renovation — every couple of years things are re-painted, re-aligned and what not. The only problem is that these renovations don’t do much to fix the flaws of the building in general and how Publix is trying to operate the store on less floorspace than most standard Publix supermarkets.

Crowded aisles, support beams int he middle of aisles, lack of selection due to lack of space… It all factors in to simply hurt the location and can’t be remedied by simply white-washing the building over and over again.

I’m counting the days until I hear this store is to be closed, demolished and then rebuilt… And trust me, it will happen. Tarpon Springs (US 19 and Tarpon Avenue) Publix just underwent such a change. Us 19 / Curlew Publix was a former Grocery store – but after the store was leased it resulted in a all out demolition of the where the store would be and renovation of the shopping center. Dunedin has a store that was totally demolished and rebuilt, and Coral Landings Publix (Palm Harbor on US 19 north of Tampa Road) was built just to the south of an existing Publix that served the Highland Lakes retirement community (that stoer is now a Stein Mart).

The biggest problem facing Publix, I would think, replacing the building is the lack of space for them to play around with in the shopping center. They are next to a key driveway for the shopping plaza and a high tension power line cooridor.

Tricky to work with – not impossible though.

Losing the location for a couple of months would hurt but I would think the windfall would be well worth it. A superior store to local rivals and a death grip on North Pinellas as the MUST Super Market with superior quality staff, service and selection…