Table Supply Stores outlet, 701 Grand Central Avenue
Produce displays in windows of Table Supply Stores outlet, 701 Grand Central Avenue. 1936. Burgert Brothers. Courtesy, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System
Ian and Jean MacKechnie Building – English Language Studies, University of Tampa, 701 Kennedy Blvd. 2021. © Chip Weiner
William Davis opened Table Supply Stores in Miami in 1925 and expanded to 37 stores in Florida. In 1932, they acquired the Lively grocery stores in Tampa and rebranded them under the company moniker. Well-organized produce was a signature of the markets, as seen in the windows of this store on Lafayette St (now Kennedy Blvd.). Each item was arranged in its own bin and stacked neatly, attracting attention from inside and outside the store. The Tampa store also featured a refrigerated butcher's counter.
Davis’s four sons bought the 78-store Winn & Lovette chain as the chain expanded. After World War II, the Davis family changed the name to Winn-Dixie Stores after they acquired Dixie-Home stores in Greenville, South Carolina, and the company continued to grow into an 11-state conglomerate. This building took many forms after the supermarket moved out. It was a mattress distributorship, an aluminum company, and a U-Haul location. Its owner, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, donated it to the lighthouse for the blind in 1976. In the mid-1990s, it was a family care center for Tampa General Hospital. A fire gutted the building in 2002, causing the clinic to move, and the law firm Ramey, Ramey, and Kempf took over, staying until 2008 when the University of Tampa purchased the property and opened a learning center.
© Chip Weiner. All rights reserved
From Burgert Brothers: Look Again, Vol.2