Rob Rowe hasn’t decided whether to step in where Southeastern Grocers is pulling out.
The founder of Rowe’s IGA Inc. is studying what it would take to open a Rowe’s Supermarket in the Harveys Supermarket store that Southeastern Grocers will close at 3000 Dunn Ave.
Rowe said there are many factors to sift through:
The economic deal with the landlord; the extent of renovations that would be necessary; other due diligence; the effect on his existing Dunn Avenue store 4 miles west; and how assistance might be effective.
“Everything’s got to make sense,” Rowe said.
Southeastern Grocers also intends to close the Northwest Jacksonville Harveys along Edgewood Avenue North. Rowe said he is not pursuing that location.
Saying the closure of the Harveys stores will create a food desert in the area, City Council member Reginald Brown introduced Ordinance 2018-195 to appropriate $3 million from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Trust Fund.
The money would create a grant program to alleviate food desert areas within Northwest Jacksonville. It would offer incentives to attract supermarkets, with a goal of attracting up to six.
The fund’s advisory committee would identify a consultant or broker to help find eligible applicants for a grant.
Proposed legislation defines “supermarket” as a full-line retail grocery store that carries specific product categories.
Companies mentioned, but not considered to be exclusive, are Publix, Harveys, Winn-Dixie, The Fresh Market, Target, Walmart, Aldi, Save-A-Lot and Rowe’s.
The ordinance is co-sponsored by council members Katrina Brown, Reggie Gaffney and Samuel Newby.
Should Rowe take over the closing Harveys, he would be taking over a site operated by his former employer. Rowe worked for the Winn-Dixie and Albertsons chains decades ago.
Winn-Dixie merged with Bi-Lo in 2012 and came under the Southeastern Grocers umbrella in 2013.
Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers owns those brands as well as Harveys and Fresco y Mas.
As Southeastern Grocers reorganizes under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, it will close 94 underperforming stores in seven states, including four in Northeast Florida.
In addition to two Northwest Jacksonville Harveys at 1012 Edgewood Ave. N. and Dunn Avenue, the company will close two Winn-Dixie stores at 9866 Baymeadows Road and in Orange Park at 128 Blanding Blvd.