Lakeland hopes new supermarket restores lost sales tax revenue
Sprouts, similar to Whole Foods, started renovations two months ago in the space at Country Bridge Shopping Center. The Phoenix-based company expects to open by next spring.
In Germantown, Boyle Investment Company is signing a tenant at the former 30,000-square-foot Schnucks grocery store at Poplar and Forest Hill-Irene Road, but officials declined to say if the new tenant is Sprouts.
Lakeland City Planner Jim Atkinson said its store will be the first Sprouts in Tennessee. Lakeland lost its only grocery store in 2012, when Kroger moved across the street into Memphis taking roughly $300,000 in annual sales tax revenue from Lakeland.
City officials are hoping the new Sprouts store will bring in at least that amount to help cover street maintenance, the Lakeland School System, a proposed sports complex and other projects.
Source: commercialappeal.com
