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| Photos in today's post are courtesy of contributor Nicholas B. |
Jewel-Osco #4101 / Albertsons #4402 / Safeway #4402 / Publix #1663 / Future Publix #2046
10500 Ulmerton Road #800, Largo, FL - Largo Mall
One of the more storied former Albertsons stores in Florida was store #4402 at Largo Mall, notable for its past as one of the 6 buildings constructed by Jewel-Osco during their brief tenure in Florida, on top of being one of the three Floridian Albertsons stores that survived to be converted to a Safeway in 2016. Much like the chain that originally built this structure, Safeway's time in Florida was cut short as well, those stores only lasting two years before being bought out by Publix - a chain that already had stores located across the street from each of the Safeway stores purchased. I'm pretty convinced Publix bought these stores purely for the fact that they could buy out a competitor and be done with them, as all three of the former Safeway stores reopened as a Publix to compliment their counterparts a few hundred feet away. After a light conversion, all of these former Safeway stores reopened as a Publix in late 2018, receiving a decor swap and restock but not much else. As such, the "Jewel-Albsafelixsons" was an odd mish-mash of 4 different grocery chains, and one of the largest (if not the largest) Publix store in the chain at nearly 80,000 square feet. As you can imagine, a store with that many former supermarket remnants in it created quite the buzz on this blog, spawning 14 separate posts (this one inclusive) over the years of AFB's existence (the most of any former Albertsons store by a longshot). The main post on former Albertsons #4402, with the most detail and a complete tour of the Jewel-Albsafelixsons, can be found here. For today's update, I must be the bearer of bad news:
After 8 years of operating a store in this building, Publix grew tired of its quirks, excessive size, and according to sources, the building's failing roof that Albertsons neglected over the years. Instead of remodeling this store to the Evergreen decor like we saw at the Safelixsons in Oakland Park, Publix opted for a "clean slate" as this store approached the time for its first true remodel under the Publix name. As such, the former Jewel-Osco building will be replaced with a 51,908 square foot modern Publix with an attached liquor store. After word of these plans first came out in early 2025, Publix finally got all of their pre-construction processes completed by early 2026, with the Jewel-Albsafelixsons being announced for closure on February 28, 2026.
While this store had a following from the fans of this blog due to its many unusual characteristics, to the average shopper who doesn't drive out of their way for the ambience of a former Jewel-Osco with bits of Safeway decor thrown in, it appears many considered this store old, dirty, excessively oversized, and having a weird layout (at least clabbering together what the people of Reddit had to say about this place). All that, on top of those potential structural issues, seemed to seal this store's fate.
Thanks to new blog contributor Nicholas B., he was able to send over these photos of the store from a few days after it closed for a final farewell to this unusual store. We started off with a few exterior photos, and we'll transition now to some photos of the store's interior through the windows. Nicholas came here before the store's fixture auction concluded, so the store was still fully furnished, but staged for the upcoming auction that occurred about a week after the store closed.
Upon taking over this store, Publix did a quick repaint of the walls to install a basic version of their Classy Market 3.0/Sienna decor. Other than that the majority of the fixtures we see in here were installed by Albertsons in 2016 when the store remodeled into a Safeway.
The grand aisle in this building was located on its right side, including produce toward the front by the right side doors, followed by the deli and bakery on the right wall. The deli and bakery were visible in the background of the previous photo, with some produce fixtures visible in the foreground above.
Albertsons dumped a lot of money into this building in 2016, including removing the deli island to move that department to the side wall, building a new bakery, and installing new flooring, lighting, and fixtures. While that was quite a bit of money, it appears Albertsons may have left some structural issues unaddressed, such as the rumored roof issues. Maybe Albertsons didn't address those more expensive structural problems knowing these Safeway stores weren't going to be around for long, however, it seems like a bit of a waste to dump millions into a store for a remodel just to sell it off a couple years later (but then again, ask Winn-Dixie about that...).
Looking toward the left side of the building, we see the store's customer service desk located in an island just beyond the check lanes, with the former Starbucks kiosk on the left just inside the doors. Publix inherited the 3 Starbucks kiosks inside the Safeway stores they purchased, and opted to keep them once the stores transitioned, adding those three locations to the handful of Starbucks kiosks Publix had experimented with opening in the past. Unlike other chains, Publix was never super committed to expanding Starbucks kiosks outside of a few initial tests at higher-tier stores, and appears to have become more interested over the years in expanding its own POURS house brand as an in-store beverage option. As such, Publix closed its remaining Starbucks kiosks in late 2025, with the Largo Mall kiosk closing on October 22, 2025, per this Facebook post. The kiosk must have just sat here empty until the store closed, especially since the store was up for closure anyway. Due to this store's pending closure, that was probably an exception, as I'm sure other stores with former Starbucks kiosks had them fully removed to where you'd never know they were there.
Here's a zoomed-in photo of the service desk, which will serve as out last interior photo.
The neighboring liquor store was also closed alongside the main store, although it will be replaced with a new liquor store once the new supermarket opens.
Unfortunately, Publix pulled down the shutters inside the liquor store, so we won't be getting any post-closure looks inside there.
As a consolation, here's a Safeway-era door decal that managed to survive through 8 years of Publix operating out of this building. I'm a bit surprised Publix left this here and didn't replace it with a decal of their own!
Even though the new store will be almost 30,000 square feet smaller, the replacement store and the new liquor store will take up about the same width as the current building. Most of the size reduction is coming from reducing the space sticking out the back of the structure, so no additional retail space will be created when the store's size is reduced. The new Largo Mall Publix, store #2046, will probably open in early 2027 as long as there are no major delays, although it's not like shoppers have to fret about where they will buy their groceries over the next few months, there's another Publix conveniently located across the street in the meantime. For the retail fans in Pinellas County, you still have the Clearwater and Palm Harbor Jewel-Publixsons stores if you need your Jewel-Osco fix, and while those lack the Safeway embellishments, they're still good examples of what a Jewel-Osco (and an oversized Publix) are like.
Unless I get some photos in of the replacement Publix, that will conclude the story of former Albertsons #4402. Thank you Nicholas for the post-closure photos of this store, and be sure to come back next week for our next feature post!
So until next time,
The Albertsons Florida Blogger
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