Publix #498
18900 North Tamiami Trail, North Fort Myers, FL - Del Tura Plaza
***The photos in today's post are courtesy of new MFR contributor Horizontal Horizons***
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| Today's post is a presentation of Lee County retail |
While I mentioned some Publix closures made the news this summer in my most recent AFB post, the Publix we'll be touring today was not one of them - this Publix actually closed quite a while ago! While we'll be getting back to current events before long, we'll take a little bit of time today to look at this interesting relic of Publix's past, courtesy of new MFR contributor Horizontal Horizons. A Floridian retail fan hailing from Southwest Florida, Horizontal Horizons was kind enough to send over these photos taken in 2022 and 2024 of former Publix #498 for all of you to see. Publix #498 presents a lot of intrigue, as this store has been sitting empty since 2012. Having closed so long ago now, your interest has probably been piqued as to what relics of Publix's past may be preserved inside, as decor packages like Wavy Pastel and Classy Market 1.0 were still alive back then. I'll let everyone ponder those thoughts for a moment to build up the suspense, as we take a little time to talk more about how Publix #498 came to be, and why it's been sitting empty for 12 years now:
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| Photo courtesy of Foursquare |
Publix #498 opened on December 1, 1994 to serve the northern fringes of Cape Coral and North Fort Myers. Located across the street from the Del Tura Golf & Country Club community, the shopping center housing Publix #498 was named "Del Tura Plaza", seemingly positioned to to be a convenient grocery stop for people in the few residential developments along this stretch of Tamiami Trail. Looking forward, Publix may have seen this site's potential to grow as time went on, as the nearby (then-lightly) developed portions of Cape Coral built out heading into the new millennium. While the growth Publix probably expected did come as we entered the 2000's, I don't think store #498 ever did particularly well, as the location of this store is a bid odd - see for yourself here. Store #498 was built on the very edge of the population area, in a tiny shopping center facing a dead end stub to nowhere (which made the store difficult to see from Tamiami Trail), located on a non-signalized intersection off a pretty busy road. I feel pretty confident in saying store #498 was a bit of a real estate mistake for Publix, and probably a large contributing factor as to why Publix became pretty eager to move out of this building. The fact that no one ever seemed interested in developing one of the many empty outparcel spaces during Publix's time at this location seems a bit telling of this location's poor placement too.
Even with a number of strikes against it, Publix #498 managed to survive for 18 years at Del Tura Plaza. During those 18 years, this store received one remodel in the early 2000's where its original Wavy Pastel decor was swapped out for Classy Market 1.0. Interestingly, it also received an early Publix Liquors location in the late 2000's as well. However, in 2012, Publix managed to secure a fantastic site for a new North Fort Myers store about a mile south of here at the busy intersection of Tamiami Trail and Del Prado Boulevard (Del Prado being one of the main North-South roads in Cape Coral), a site that had been expected to become home to a newbuild Sweetbay Supermarket around 2009.
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| Site Plan for proposed Sweetbay Supermarket #1962 at Shoppes at Del Prado - Lee County Records |
I found an old lease agreement in the Lee County records showing Sweetbay's intent to build at the Tamiami and Del Prado site, the site plan from which you can see above. I couldn't find any more detail though about why the talks with Sweetbay fell apart, however, Sweetbay was running into financial difficulties come the 2011-2012 timeframe when this store would have began construction. While Sweetbay did open a handful of new stores in 2011, this one may have been cut as Delhaize began to realize that Sweetbay's future wasn't looking very promising, and that the end of Sweetbay was nearing. Anyway, Sweetbay's troubles in the early 2010's worked to Publix's advantage, as Publix was approached to be the new grocery anchor for the Shoppes at Del Prado project, a deal which Publix gladly accepted.
Publix #498 closed for good on the evening of October 24, 2012, with its replacement, Publix #1407, opening the next day on October 25th. Ever since October 2012 this building has been sitting empty, somewhat forgotten in the back of this little shopping center. In its 12 years of vacancy, the only action this building has seen was a brief stint as an emergency shelter for Lee County residents displaced by Hurricane Ian in late 2022. Other than that this former supermarket has just sat here anchoring a fairly dead shopping center on the edge of town since 2012.
Publix #498 (and the small attached shopping center) used a Spanish/Southwestern style architectural design, an interesting take on what would otherwise be a typical early 1990's Publix build. Above, Horizontal Horizons is approaching the store from the left side, looking toward the old left side entryway into the building. As Horizontal Horizons put it, "Upon walking up the the old entry doors of the left vestibule, I was greeted warmly by a busted out whatever-you-call-those-pole-things."
Arriving at the front walkway, here's a quick look at the store's left side vestibule, which we'll come back to in just a little bit.
Early-mid 1990's Publix stores didn't have a standard "default" facade, particularly the 40N and its larger sibling, the 49N (like this store was). As such, stores from this era had a pretty wide array of exterior designs, from some fairly plain ones to some more elaborate designs. Store #498 certainly fell on the more elaborate end of the exterior design spectrum from that era, with its custom Spanish architectural style, fancy patterned tile walkway, and custom wall tile design as well.
I'll let our contributor's captions take over for this next image, as Horizontal Horizons summed this scene up well: "Taking a glance out from this old archway you can see off in the distance what looks to be an undeveloped pad of land, a field likely cleared out for a planned expansion this plaza never received. Why else would there be an arch to nowhere? Apart from receiving no outparcels, this plaza also lacked any sort of extension outward past the Publix space. Not a good look for business performance having all those empty fields!"
I mentioned before we were going to take a closer look at the left vestibule, and that time has now come. Just glancing through the doors, hopefully there's one obvious Publix relic inside jumping out at you...
…the Wavy Pastel wall tile stripes! As Horizontal Horizons put it: "Looking inside, I was met with a bright clash of old 1994 colored tiles from the Wavy Pastels era. These all somehow survived the store’s first and only remodel, being to CM 1.0, likely taking place in the early 2000s when the package debuted." Horizontal, I was just as excited as you were seeing this photo for the first time! This vestibule is a perfect vestige of 1990's Publix, from the wall tiles to the original flooring and even the original older-style ceiling tiles as well. (I always associate that ceiling tile pattern with supermarkets from the 1980's and 1990's, as that seems to be when that pattern was most popular - as you'd probably imagine, Publix has swapped out those ceiling tiles in most stores of this design that still survive for a modern alternative). From this angle, you'd never even realize this store closed with Classy Market 1.0.
Turning the corner from the vestibule and peeking into the main salesfloor from the front windows, we can start to see more of this store's final years with some remnants of CM 1.0 still on the walls. As Horizontal Horizons described this scene: "And would you look at that! Past the sand-covered tiles we have some old CM 1.0 remnants, most notably being the fake wall windows. You just can’t miss those, as they are very obviously visible to anyone who looks in. I guess Publix simply had no desire to remove all of the decor fixtures after moving out in 2012."
Pulling back a bit, we can see more of the old faux skylight that used to shine down upon the front end until Publix said goodbye to this store, that light eagerly awaiting its second chance to light up again.
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| Photo courtesy of Foursquare |
Poking around the internet, Horizontal Horizons managed to find one interior photo from Publix #498 before it closed. 49N Publix stores have a mezzanine level for offices and the employee breakroom, which look down over the front end. From the looks of it, this photo was taken from one of the windows on the mezzanine level, looking down on the left-most side of the front end, closest to the bakery and pharmacy counter. As Horizontal Horizons described this interior photo: "Hanging proudly from the ceiling in the left of the frame was a lovely poster view of good ol’ Mr. George bagging up some groceries. Aside from that banner, you can also noticeably see the check lanes, and back behind those, vaguely make out some of the old CM 1.0 aisle markers. (all of which are now long gone, as depicted through the modern photos)"
Back to the present, Publix #498 looks a bit darker and grayer in appearance, and not because it has Evergreen decor inside! The interior photo we just saw from when the store was open was looking roughly at this same portion of the building, just angled downward from the mezzanine. The left half of the store once contained produce in the back left corner, followed by the bakery in the front left corner, and the pharmacy immediately to our left between the bakery and the entryway. The half-height wall you've been seeing off to the left in these interior photos separated the salesfloor from the pharmacy waiting area. Since this store closed in 2012 with Classy Market 1.0, it didn't survive long enough to have its pharmacy relocated to the multi-purpose nook at the front right corner of the building like most 49Ns received during their remodels to Classy Market 2.5 and/or Sienna/Classy Market 3.0.
As we move away from the left-side vestibule, here's a little more from Horizontal Horizons about what we're seeing: "Heading over now to the right side vestibule, you can enjoy these funky old tile patterns while walking down the seemingly endless empty front awning of this building. The address in the corner adds a nice touch too. Despite lacking a tile mural, I was overall very impressed with the look and theming of this store. While it’s a shame a store this nice had to be replaced so early on, at the same time it is great thing the place gets to live on as a well preserved relic to Publix’s past. We all know dang well those CM 1.0 windows would be long gone by now, had the building still been operational today!"
It's interesting Horizontal Horizons brought up the tile murals, as this store's number neighbor, store #499 in Melbourne Beach, was the very last Publix to receive tile murals made by Pati Mills'. While not a mural, like Horizontal Horizons, I do appreciate some of the tile patterns select early 1990's stores received as decorative trim like this!
Now at the building's right side vestibule, let's take a peek through the glass and see what we may discover on the right side of the building:
The right side of the store was home to the distinctive 49N dairy arch, visible to the right in the photo above. On the back wall we can see the remains of the former deli counter, that department's alcove visible in the background of the left side of the image.
The scars from the grocery aisles can be seen here, under the raised ceiling that once housed those aisles.
Much like its left side counterpart, the right-side vestibule is just as much of a relic from 1994.
Between Horizontal Horizon's two visits to this store, the pile of pipe near the window disappeared, but other than that nothing about this vestibule changed.
Back to the front walkway, here's another look at the decorative tile work as we look back toward the doors.
To the side of the right entryway is the former location of the Presto! ATM, boarded over where the actual ATM unit used to be housed (as keeping an ATM at a closed store wouldn't make any cents).
Off to the right side of the former Publix space is the small strip of stores that comprises the remainder of Del Tura Plaza. Of the 12 or so units that comprise the strip of stores, if Google Maps is accurate, only 4 of these units are currently occupied - those businesses including a rental ballroom, a brunch café, and two doctor's offices. While those businesses are still hanging on in this desolate little strip, of particular attention to us in relation to our post is this very first unit next door to the former Publix. For a short period from the late 2000's until Publix closed in 2012, this unit housed the Publix Liquor store. A 1994-built Publix would not have had a liquor store from the beginning, as Publix only revived the liquor store concept in the early 2000's (following a brief experiment running liquor stores that failed rather fast in the late 1980's). At some point Publix managed to secure the space immediately adjacent to this store for the new liquor store, and considering this store ended up closing only a few years after it was added, I'm surprised Publix even bothered to add a liquor store to this location.
Looking through the front doors of the former liquor store, there really isn't much to see in here. The former liquor store has been pretty well stripped out, the flooring included.
When Publix moved, the new store down the road also had a liquor store added, so that feature wasn't lost in the transition. Anyway, with the photo above, we're back in the parking lot now, with a final overview of the former Publix as seen from the right side of the building.
The final photo Horizontal Horizons shared with us was this one, with "the front facade stretching across the vast, empty parking lot. This really creates a good illusion that makes the store appear much larger than it actually is." I see that too - an abandoned supermarket does look larger and more intimidating staring right at you across its large, empty parking lot.
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| Photo courtesy of The Real Yellow Pages |
Our last photo for today will be this one I found online, the only other photo of Publix #498 I could find besides the ones already shared by Horizontal Horizons. Technically this isn't even a photo of the store itself, but its road sign facing Tamiami Trail. This small sign was all there was to tell people going by there was a Publix hidden back here. I really think turning this shopping center 90 degrees to face Tamiami Trail instead of the little dead end road to nowhere could have helped this store's prospects quite a bit!
Anyway, that's the story of Publix #498. Sitting empty since 2012, I believe there are only two other Publix stores out there that have been sitting empty for longer than this one, those being store #187 in Jacksonville (empty since 2007), and the infamous crash-and-burn store #460 in Statesboro, GA (empty since 1998!). A big thanks to Horizontal Horizons for photographing this store and sharing these photos with the blog, and hopefully we'll get to see more from Horizontal Horizons in the future!
So until the next post,
AFB
