TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Loyal Customers Bid Farewell As Whaley's Market Closes

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Whaley's Market employee Michelle Powell reads the paper while she takes a break from packing up as co-worker Allen Rhodes continues to work on closing day of the market. "I'm gonna keep going, you have to," Rhodes said of the store's closing.

ADVERTISEMENT

By RICH SHOPES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 10, 2008

TAMPA - Sixty-five years ago, Barbara Gooding and Bob Day rode their bikes to Whaley's Market to pick through the apples, peaches and penny candy.

Today, they stopped by for sandwiches, only to learn the family-run grocery store, an institution after nearly 75 years in South Tampa, was closing.

The owners and landlord could not agree on a new lease. One of the family owners, Todd Whaley, is planning to open a new, smaller Whaley's Market in West Tampa, Seminole Heights or Temple Terrace.

"It's like saying goodbye to an old friend. It's sad," said Day, 77, who grew up on Howard Avenue, a few blocks away.

Day said he often walked or biked to Whaley's, which began as an open-air market. At first he came for the fruit, later for the José Martí sandwiches. The sandwiches named for the Cuban writer and patriot became a Whaley's signature, along with cheese spreads and twice-baked potatoes.

Gooding, 76, who married Day nine years ago, said she remembers biking to the store with her older sister, Evelyn, to pick up fresh peaches, apples and candy.

"It was all open. That was before they had air-conditioning," she said.

"It's been here so long. It was so friendly and homey. You felt welcome when you came in."

Whaley's, 533 S. Howard Ave., was scheduled to close at 1 p.m. Any left-over food was to go to employees or a homeless shelter.

By noon, most of the shelves were empty. There was a two-for-one sale today and, last week, when news of the closing broke, hundreds of customers turned up to shop and say goodbye.

"It's been an overwhelming response," deli manager Maryann Mireider said. "We have customers say that it's like going to a friend's funeral."

She attributes the loyalty people feel toward the store to friendly customer service and unique specialty foods created on site by the employees, such as California chicken salad, cranberry-blue cheese spread and bacon-cheddar, twice-baked potatoes.

Employees knew many customers by name, said bookkeeper Laurie Whaley Pearson.

"The worst part is seeing the customers," Pearson said. "It's been very sad. We all grew up working here or had friends that worked here."

In recent years, Whaley's Market has employed about 25 people. Many were offered jobs elsewhere. Some, such as Mireider, will follow Todd Whaley to the new store, wherever it may be.

Most likely, it will be about half the size of the current 9,000 square feet store.

"We're very spread out," Mireider said.

Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633 or at rshopes@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT