Editor’s note: This story first appeared on our partner site, tampabay.com.
Sweetbay Supermarkets plans to lay off 346 employees at its Tampa headquarters and distribution center by year-end amid the grocery chain’s pending sale to Jacksonville-based Bi-Lo Holdings.
Sweetbay officials said the number released in a state filing may be less if some employees are offered relocation opportunities. But if it holds, it would rank among the largest layoffs of the year in Tampa Bay.
According to a state notice filed Wednesday, the layoffs would be effective Jan. 2. In its filing, the company places the jobs in the category of “administrative and support and waste management and remediation services.”
Sweetbay spokeswoman Nicole LeBeau said the bulk of the affected workers are at the company’s Plant City distribution center.
Bi-Lo, which is also the parent company of Winn-Dixie, is buying Sweetbay and two other grocery chains from their Belgian owner Delhaize Group for $265 million. Included in the deal are 72 Sweetbay stores plus the leases to 10 underperforming Sweetbay stores that had closed earlier this year.
Last month, Bi-Lo said it planned to retire the Sweetbay name and convert the stores to the Winn-Dixie brand in the first quarter of 2014.
The layoff news comes while the deal is still awaiting regulatory approval.
LeBeau said Sweetbay employees have been bracing for this since the acquisition was announced in May. The layoff notice aside, it remains unclear how many employees will be retained, she said.
“We’re not sure what Winn-Dixie will do with job offers,” she said. “It’s a weird situation we’re in.”
A representative of Bi-Lo was not immediately available for comment.
