'It's been dead': Some Lake Miriam shop owners say business has slowed since Publix closed

LAKELAND – Heather Hoagland said since the automatic doors slid shut at Publix, she’s seen a drop in customers in her full-service hair salon.

When the Publix at Lake Miriam Square closed for demolition and a rebuild on July 6, some of the plaza’s business owners and managers became concerned about business slowdowns because of the reduction of traffic.

Hoagland, the owner-stylist at Lake Miriam Plaza’s Glam Color Bar, 4746 S. Florida Ave., said she’s seen a drop-off in clients since the temporary closing. She said since her salon is an in-store service business, she doesn’t have online sales on which to rely.

Hoagland said she's thankful for her regulars and hopes business in the 3,000-square-foot Glam Color Bar, which has been in the Lake Miriam Plaza for eight years, will pick back up soon.

“It’s bad. I’ve tried to talk to Publix about it, and they don’t think it will be a problem. It’s been dead since they started that construction and before they closed the store,” Hoagland said.

Less than a year after Publix Super Markets finished work on the demolition and rebuilding of its Oakbridge Centre store on Harden Boulevard, a similar rebuild at the Lake Miriam Square store a less than three miles away got underway.

Rebuilding is expected to take about a year. By summer 2025, future customers will enter an all-new larger supermarket.

By email, Maria Brous, Publix director of communications, said Publix provided information to tenants from marketing materials running on social media alerting the community that the Publix at Lake Miriam is closed, although tenants remained open. She wrote that once facade signs are removed, tenant banners will be used to show tenants are still open and operating.

“Our tenants are in communication with our property management and tenant relations team, and our customers will continue to see our communications regarding the center. We are taking a similar approach as we did with our Oakbridge shopping center,” Brous said.

But while automobile and foot traffic has decreased, some of the plaza’s business owners said business goes on.

Abd Qoran owns Lakeland SoFresh, a café selling hot bowls, salads, wraps, smoothies and fresh juice at 4756 S. Florida Ave., about four stores south of the Publix. He opened the café in January 2021 and said he had some initial business slowdown in his café, but he relies mostly on online ordering.

“They order online, shop, come get their food and go home,” he said. “A lot of our business is online, so that does well.”

Qoran said stop-in foot traffic has decreased, and to offset that, he began a “kids eat free” campaign, which he plans to maintain indefinitely for children 12 and younger. He’s also printing more hardcopy coupons to keep folks coming in.

“The business online has been good, it’s just the foot traffic as slowed down, so I’m making special deals,” he said.

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Justin “Murph” Murphy, the manager at Kirkland’s Barber Shop, 4816 S. Florida Ave., said the Publix remodeling hasn’t much affected his average of 12 to 14 haircuts per day.

“I don’t think it’s really too much of an impact, maybe a bit with our walk-ins, but with our regulars, we’ll be fine. The construction for us hasn’t deterred people from coming to see us,” he said.

The Lake Miriam Plaza Publix was originally constructed in 1978 and was last remodeled in the summer of 2014. That year, Publix supermarkets incorporated elements from "hybrid" Publix stores – a blend of traditional Publix markets with the grocer's Greenwise Market locations, with a focus on natural and organic foods.

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Before the latest rebuild started, some of the adjacent spaces next to the Publix were shuttered. The Publix Aprons Cooking School, adjacent to the main store, closed in mid-2023 as the Lakeland-based supermarket chain ended its cooking school program.

The Lakeland public library annex and Grapevine Liquors also vacated their units near the Publix to move elsewhere. The library moved to the Kelly Recreation Center, and Grapevine moved to the Merchants Walk shopping center, about a mile and a half north on South Florida Avenue.

Although the main store is closed, the Publix pharmacy moved two doors down and is open at 4738 S. Florida Ave.

But regular Lake Miriam Publix shoppers might have to travel a bit to find a store of similar size. The chain's Greenwise store has been converted to a traditional Publix, but it's significantly smaller than other stores. The Oakbridge store is 2.5 miles away from Lake Miriam. The Publix at Southgate is 2.8 miles. Country Road 540A store is 4 miles; the Shepherd Road store is 4.1; County Line Road 6.4 miles.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 'It's been dead': Some Lake Miriam shop owners say business has slowed since Publix closed