The grocery business in the 1940s had significant challenges. World War II limited the country’s supply of durable goods. In August 1941, President Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration, whose main duty was limiting price increases and consumption by rationing. Groceries, including milk, meat, jams, jellies, and shortenings, were all restricted so that some of the effort and manufacturing to produce those could benefit the war effort. Many retail outlets, including Margaret Ann’s, were accused by the OPA over the course of the war of charging too high of a price. The Margaret Ann supermarket chain had 37 retail stores, including four in Tampa. This one was on N. Nebraska Ave. in 1946.

Winn-Dixie was Margaret Ann’s parent company. This store eventually opened as a Kash N’ Karry. The last mention of the store in local advertising was in November 1975. Family Dollar Store, which merged with Dollar Tree in 2014 and operates over 8,000 stores nationwide, now owns the property.

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