Bye, Bye East Lake Sweetbay

The building where the East Lake Sweetbay was located is looking a bit bare these days.

The East Lake Sweetbay at 3400 E. Lake Road closed on Wednesday, Feb. 6. It was one of 33 underperforming stores in Florida that the grocer's parent company decided to close.

We asked what store you think should move into this location. Here are some of the suggestions you gave us-

"Replace it with a Trader Joe's. That would be awesome. Or you could put a Whole Foods Market there! The problem with the Sweet Bay there was that it wasn't being competitive with its pricing. It had a Publix across the street which now runs a lot of buy one, get one free specials. Also, has a Target across the street that has some grocery items as well though not a Super Target. I'm sorry that any business fails, but they were just not competitive enough." -Rita Moran

"I would definitely like to see Trader Joe's nearby, but I also suspect that they will want to locate their first Tampa Bay store in either Clearwater or in Tampa near the airport, so that they could draw from St Pete as well as northern Pinellas." -Dad of Three

"I've been writing whole foods about that location for years it would be amazing to have one right here. Either store would hurt Palm Harbor Health Foods business though." -Mona Chiles

"There is a Fresh Market store on Hwy 19 Clearwater not that far away with many of the specialty items you may like. Retailers like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods will consider almost any metro area if they think their upscale products will be supported. Sweetbay got caught just like Winn Dixie once did in expanding fast with not very competitive pricing. Publix does need some competititon here in the Clearwater-Tampa region but they are making an effort now to do better with Buy One Get One specials,etc. Sweetbay also suffers from not only bad tv spots but the Belgium ownership which allowed some not so bright folks in Salisbury,NC HQ for Food Lion to make bad decisions even when Sweetbay has a local Tampa office." -Mark Isenberg

Related-

• Sweetbay on East Lake Road to Close Wednesday
• What Should Replace Sweetbay on East Lake Road?

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