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Eateries left behind by Publix
© St. Petersburg Times LUTZ -- Eunbok Kim called us two weeks ago. I barely know Kim. But he strikes me as someone who would not call the paper unless things were bad. They were, he said, at least on his little corner of the universe at Florida and Bearss Avenues. Not quite Lutz, no longer Lake Magdalene. Two years ago, Kim and his wife opened Tomo Japanese Restaurant in a little shopping center here, thinking the neighboring Publix supermarket had 10 more years on its lease. But either Kim misunderstood or Publix got a different idea. Publix moved on July 24 to a megastore 1.2-miles north, leaving a lot of vacant real estate and a precarious situation for Tomo. "The new Publix, everybody goes to look at it," said Kim, who was born in South Korea and today lives in Pebble Creek. Surveying his tables and sushi bar, he said, "in the evening, very slow." It was much the same story at Elvis Cafe, a Spanish-Italian restaurant a few doors down. "It's awful," said manager Paul Rogers. Their first Sunday brunch after Publix closed was "the worst we ever had." Elvis lost customers who used to have dinner there before shopping at Publix, and those who stumbled onto the place during grocery runs. "That was probably half of our customers," Rogers said. "We knew they were leaving when we signed our lease, and we were a little bit worried. Now I'm starting to wonder if we should have signed that lease." It's easy to see why Publix made its move. The new store is much bigger, for starters. Poised at the apex of Florida and Nebraska avenues, it sits on two busy north-south commuter routes. And it's an easy shot to Avila, where you can safely say that money is no object. Inside, plastic-wrapped packages of Zephyrhills water are arranged in elaborate pyramids around a fountain draped with ferns. Gourmet olives and taboule have their own special bin. For $7.25, they'll sell you a box of fresh sushi. "Like in a factory," Kim said, although he realizes some will buy it instead of making an extra trip to his place for take-out. Both Kim and Rogers were more upbeat when I returned to their places this past Wednesday. But both are eager to see a new anchor tenant in the center. They've taken their concerns to the landlord, Stuart S. Golding Co. in Clearwater, but can't seem to get any firm commitment. Golding owner David Scher said he is talking to "one or two" tenants, but would not say more because "we are in negotiations." Publix spokesman Lee Brunson said I'd have to refer questions about the lease to the Golding firm. Absent real information, rumors run rampant. One says Publix is the tenant of record for two more years and can sublet to the business of its choosing -- certainly not a supermarket. Another says an auto parts store is coming -- and that can't be good for two middle-priced eateries. I don't know what it's like to own an independent restaurant, to get up before dawn and bicker with wholesalers and code inspectors and fight that uphill battle against the chains. But it's sad -- if inevitable -- when progress, be it a wider road or a store relocation, threatens an enterprise that people have poured their hearts into. The worst part, Rogers said, is how depressing the center looks, with "Publix" letters barely rubbed off the cement facade. "An eyesore," he called it. A delivery driver, carring a package for him, did not even stop because "he thought it was a dead plaza." He and Kim have countered with makeshift advertising -- a colorful Elvis sign attached to one of the building pilings, a sidewalk chalkboard advertising Tomo's Sunday hours. "My customers, they come, but they worry about me," said Kim. It's much the same at Elvis, said Rogers. "They want us to stay and fight the good fight."
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