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Auction fizzles, so Scotty's is still for sale
By SHARON L. BOND SEMINOLE -- An auction last week failed to bring a bid close to the asking price of $2-million for the vacant Scotty's here. So the 4.2-acre property at 6780 Seminole Blvd. remains for sale. "We did not accept the highest bid, which was $1.1-million," said Bob Pacos, executive vice president for the Winter Haven-based hardware store chain. "We'd like to get a little closer to $2-million. We're not under any duress to sell, so we are not going to give it away," Pacos said. In June, the Scotty's corporation decided to close all of its bargain outlets such as the Seminole store. Instead of running large improvement stores as it once did, Scotty's now is concentrating more on hardware stores in smaller areas. "We're concentrating our efforts in rural areas," Pacos said. "That was a metropolitan location. We are in a nonmetropolitan strategy." Scotty's opened on Seminole Boulevard in 1981 and apparently did well until Home Depot opened two years ago. When the Seminole store closed, it had 21 employees, of which full-time and management workers were to be offered jobs at other Scotty's locations. Pacos described the Scotty's in Seminole as a "good piece of property" with high visibility. He said the building contained 37,000 square feet of air-conditioned space. A Scotty's on 66th Street N in St. Petersburg closed about the same time the one in Seminole did. Pacos said the company leased that property and had turned it back to the landlord. In September, Scotty's sold a St. Petersburg location on 22nd Avenue N for $2.2-million to JB Factory Carpets, importers based in Seattle. It closed that location in 1999.
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