On the day Hurricane Ian hit nearly two years ago, Richard Johnson had plans and permits to renovate Bailey’s General Store on his desk. He soon knew they would have to be destroyed, just like the Sanibel Island grocery store his family owns.
The store on the corner of Periwinkle Way and Tarpon Bay Road was the third location of a business that opened in 1899, making it the longest-running business in Southwest Florida.
“When we got out here and looked at the level of destruction and the damage that was done by Hurricane Ian, we recognized that rebuilding the store was not only not possible because of the 50% rule with [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], but it also didn’t really make good business sense either,” said Johnson, who said he keeps his duties as mayor of Sanibel separate from the business tasks at hand.
The new store will grow to 35,000 square feet from 29,000 square feet. Plus, it will have two outparcels for other businesses measuring about 6,000 square feet.
The ground floors will be open space and parking. The grocery store will be elevated by 10 feet, about double the depth of the 5-foot storm surge from Ian. The building heights will go up to 45 feet, the maximum allowed by Sanibel building codes.
“If we’re going to be more resilient than we were before, then we need to go up,” Johnson said.
Johnson married into the Bailey family, who founded the grocery store. At the time Ian hit, Bailey’s had about 105 employees. Now, with the store on hiatus, there are only a handful.
“We’re going to get back to the right number,” Johnson said. “Whether that’s 105 or 125, or whether that’s 95, we’ll cross that bridge when we need to.”
In 2004, another hurricane—Charley—had disrupted the business. Johnson met with Francis Bailey, then the owner, and discussed a succession plan.
Johnson had been living in Jacksonville doing information technology work for grocery stores. He also worked for an insurance company, specializing in disaster recovery. That experience helped him navigate the nuances of building a more resilient grocery store—one that will withstand future hurricanes.
“The first step is to get out of the way of the water,” Johnson said. “Secondly, we’ve got to harden the power connections we had. We will have some energy backups.”
Bailey’s also plans to restore its rooftop solar power and is exploring the possibilities of supplementing emergency generator power with solar-powered batteries.
Bailie Johnson, Richard’s daughter and office manager for the grocery store, said she’s excited about the progress.
“I’m glad that what we had is gone,” she said. “Seeing it after Ian was so heartbreaking. We’re eager to get shovels in the ground. It’s great to be starting from scratch.”
Bailey’s has partnered with several other businesses on the project, which should break ground in 2025 and be finished by the end of 2026.
Benchmark General Contractors will manage construction. GMA Architects & Planners have designed it. UNFI, which stands for United National Foods Inc., is designing the interior. J.R. Evans Engineering will do the engineering. Sanibel-based Coastal Vista Design will do the landscape architecture. Delisi Land Use Planning & Water Policy is also involved.
