Joe Culpepper/Gulf Breeze News The Starbucks coffee store at 3703 Gulf Breeze Parkway in Tiger Point has been open for only a year, but the company recently said it will close this store and others by Dec. 31. The Bruno's Supermarket at 334 Gulf Breeze Parkway likely will close by May 31 if new ownership does not acquire the store in the coming weeks.

The possible closing is the result of the bankruptcy proceedings of Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC.

In a company letter to Mayor Lane Gilchrist dated March 12, it is predicted that "if attempts to sell the stores on terms that will allow the employees to keep their jobs are unsuccessful, the store will close completely, or lay some or all of the employees in accordance with the requirements of a sale."

Affected employees are expected to be laid off at the same time, and the letter states that approximately 44 full- and part-time employees will be affected.

Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC is actively trying to sell all the holding's stores as a group and individually. If no buyer presents for the Gulf Breeze store or the group holdings, the store will close. No bankruptcy auction date has been set.

Joe Culpepper/Gulf Breeze News Boater's World at Tiger Point has been offering discounts on its merchandise for several weeks as it prepares to close its store here and 128 others across the United States. Company representatives stress that the Gulf Breeze store is part of a national trend for its holdings, and the closing is not due to loss of business to the new Publix Supermarket in Gulf Breeze.

"Bruno's is challenged by the tightening credit market and the difficult market environment for retailers," Company spokesman Ed Trissel told Gulf Breeze News in an e-mail.

"Bruno's has no current plans to close stores beyond the 10 stores whose closings have already been announced and were approved by the bankruptcy court. However, because other Bruno's stores will close if they are not sold, to comply with federal law Bruno's has notified its employees of the possibility of store closings. Bruno's is actively involved in efforts to sell its stores and preserve its employees' jobs."

Meanwhile, the Starbucks coffee store at 3703 Gulf Breeze Parkway in Tiger Point will close before the end of the year, according to a published report.

The store at 3703 Gulf Breeze Parkway in the Market Place shopping center, has been open for only a year. The company issued a statement that said the closure is part of a plan to manage costs and become more efficient to better prepare for the "continued uncertainty in the economy."

Affected employees will either be reassigned to other Starbucks outlets or be offered severance packages, a company statement said.

The Starbucks store in Gulf Breeze Proper will remain open.

Elsewhere, the contract postal station located at CVS Pharmacy in the Tiger Point Shopping Center will close or relocate in mid May. The situation is the result of the store's departure to a brand-new building in the center's parking lot that once was occupied by a Pizza Hut restaurant, which sat dormant for years.

The postal station, owned by Jim Vassar, serves about 150 customers a day. For the past six years, he's operated the station in the CVS rent-free in exchange for generating traffic and customers for the pharmacy. The U.S. Post Office will not pay to move the station or help offset the cost of leasing a new space, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

The proliferation of e-mail and electronic bill paying has greatly cut into U.S. Postal Service revenues in the past few years.

An alternative to the CVS postal station is the Mail's A Breeze store at 1333 College Parkway, just west of the shopping center. That business, run by Kathy Kuehl, offers private mailboxes with a street address so box holders can receive mail, UPS, FedEx and DHL packages. It also does packing and shipping and a myriad of other postal-related services.

Farther east, the Big Ten Tire store at 3087 Gulf Breeze Parkway has closed its doors.

The Boater's World Discount Marine Center at Tiger Point also is going out of business, another casualty of the U.S. recession. The store's owner — Ritz Camera Centers Inc. — is closing all of its 129 stores in 27 states, including several outlets in Northwest Florida.

"In 2008, the price of oil skyrocketed, leading to a sharp rise in the price of gas, and that in turn, with other macroeconomic factors, led to a sharp drop in sales and profitability of Boater's World," Ritz said in its bankruptcy filing.