Tampa Bay Publix Stores, Malls Open: When Will Restaurants, Shops Reopen?

TAMPA, FL - Now that Tampa Bay residents have weathered Hurricane Irma with relatively little major damage, many just want to do normal things, like gas up the car, drive through McDonald's, or pick up groceries at Publix. On Tuesday, some businesses were beginning to reopen, sometimes with limited supplies or menus; gas seemed to be the commodity in shortest supply.

All of the Publix stores in the Tampa area have reopened as of Tuesday, according to their website. Click to find Publix stores' status, hours, and updates. (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

International Plaza, the largest mall in Tampa, announced on its website that it would reopen at 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Westfield Citrus Park mall announced on its Facebook page that the center will reopen at 2 p.m. Tuesday. "Thank you to the efforts of all first responders to restore power to Westfield Citrus Park. We are happy to welcome our retailers and customers safely back to the center to enjoy the comfort of air conditioning and access to power. Individual store openings may vary and are optional at this time. Please contact stores directly for their opening times and operating hours," the Facebook post said.

The Regal movie theater at the mall has reopened. Eight restaurants had reopened, including Johnny Rockets, BJ's, Grimaldi's and Red Robin. Four restaurants in the food court were open Tuesday afternoon.

Only six Winn-Dixie stores in Tampa remained closed. Only one in St. Petersburg was closed Tuesday evening. Joe Caldwell, manager of corporate communications with Winn-Dixie, said each store will be treated on a case-by-case basis. “As safety is our top priority, that will be our guiding factor. We also need to ensure our building, services and, most importantly, our associates are able to properly serve our customers,” he said. Click to find open Winn-Dixie stores.

Some McDonald's restaurants have reopened in the Tampa Bay area. To check on your individual store, go to the company's twitter account: @McDTampaBay. Customers were reporting large crowds.

Walmart is assessing its stores and attempting to reopen them as quickly as possible. The company started reopening stores in the Southeast, with 75 about open across the region and announced it will continue reopening locations as long as it is safe to do so.

Most Walmart locations in Tampa Bay remained closed. The Walmart Supercenter at 19910 Bruce B. Downs Road in Tampa reopened Tuesday morning. Click to find status of local Walmart stores.

Walmart officials said as they reopen stores they will work with patients who might be displaced or have previously received prescriptions from another pharmacy. "The company has increased settings at its distribution centers and at stores on top 100 drugs to get added supplies into impacted stores. For the seven states that have declared an emergency, Walmart will be refilling prescriptions early, so that residents won’t be without critical medications." Walmart officials said Florida customers can get 30 days of emergency refills.

Few restaurants had reopened by late Monday night. In the Westchase area, two locally owned Chinese restaurants, Kang’s Garden and China, were among a few that had resumed operations. The line of customers was out the door. Several restaurants that opened ran out of food.

On Monday evening, a Burger King in the Town & Country area was taking orders only at its drive-through. No customers were being allowed inside. Twenty-four cars snaked through the parking lot onto Sheldon Road and around the corner to its intersection with Hillsborough Avenue. A second line of cars was trying to access the second drive-through lane from an adjoining street. Some heated words were exchanged.

Patch.com has contacted various merchants from grocery stores, restaurants, malls, large retailers and movie theaters, and will make information on reopenings available as we get it.

Tina Rice was among those waiting in the long line at Burger King. She had driven from Dunedin, about 30 miles from Tampa, looking for dinner and decided to pass on the Applebee's in Oldsmar because of the "huge crowd" waiting for a table. Burger King was the second restaurant she found that was open. Rice said she had no power at her home. "No TV. No internet. You just want to have a hot meal," she said.

WaWa stores in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties have reopened. Click to find the status of Wawa stores in your area.

Photo: A line forms out the door of the China restaurant in Westchase, one of the few restaurants open Monday afternoon in the Westchase area. By Patch Editor Don Johnson