Floor & Decor at the Old Time Pottery Site in New Port Richey? What's Verified — and What Isn't

A community tip circulating among New Port Richey residents claims that home-improvement retailer Floor & Decor is moving into the recently closed Old Time Pottery building at Southgate Shopping Center, 5217 U.S. Highway 19. As of publication, that specific claim remains unconfirmed — but the piece of the story residents can see with their own eyes, the closing of Old Time Pottery, does hold up. Here's what the public record actually shows, and what it would take to confirm the rest.

What's verified

The Old Time Pottery store at the Southgate site has closed. Business-listing pages for the 5217 U.S. 19 location — including its Yelp page and Apple Maps — now flag the store as closed and permanently closed, respectively. The New Port Richey store had operated in the shopping center for years after opening there in 2012.

Southgate Shopping Center itself is a large, well-trafficked retail hub. According to the property owner, Woolbright Development, the center spans roughly 273,000 square feet on the northwest corner of U.S. 19 and Marine Parkway, anchored by tenants such as Publix, TJ Maxx, Burlington, Party City, Pet Supermarket and Big Lots. The company markets the location as drawing more than two million visitors a year, with about 64,000 vehicles passing daily and roughly 165,000 people living within a five-mile radius.

What we could not confirm

The core of the tip — that Floor & Decor specifically is the replacement tenant — did not check out against any independent public source available at publication:

• No company announcement. Floor & Decor routinely issues press releases for new Florida stores — recent examples include grand openings in Kissimmee and Davie — but the company has not publicized a New Port Richey location at this site.
• No mention on the landlord's leasing materials. Woolbright Development's own Southgate page still lists Old Time Pottery among its tenants and makes no reference to Floor & Decor.
• No verifiable permit or lease record surfaced tying Floor & Decor to 5217 U.S. 19.

Search results that appear to place a Floor & Decor "in New Port Richey" trace back to online directories and aggregator listings, not to a confirmed new lease at the former Old Time Pottery building. That kind of listing is easy to misread as an announcement — which is one reason a tip like this needs hard sourcing before it can be reported as fact.

Why the rumor is plausible — but still just a rumor

It's easy to see why residents connected the dots. A vacated big-box space along a high-traffic highway corridor is exactly the kind of footprint a large hard-surface flooring warehouse looks for, and Floor & Decor has been expanding aggressively across Florida. Renovation or turnover activity at a just-closed store can also fuel speculation, since crews are often on site whether a space is being cleared, subdivided, or built out for someone new.

None of that, however, tells you who is coming — or whether a new tenant has been signed at all. Big-box spaces sometimes sit vacant for months, get split into smaller storefronts, or land a tenant entirely different from the one neighbors expect.

What would confirm it

Readers who want to know for sure can watch for the same records reporters rely on:

• Building/tenant-improvement permits filed with Pasco County or the City of New Port Richey listing the 5217 U.S. 19 address and a named applicant.
• An official Floor & Decor announcement or a "coming soon" listing in the company's store locator.
• Updated leasing or press materials from Woolbright Development naming the new tenant.
• On-site signage or a hiring notice at the building.

Until one of those appears, the safest read is simple: a familiar store is gone, and the neighborhood is understandably curious about what's next.

Stay Connected

We'll keep tracking what lands at the Southgate site and update this story as soon as anything is confirmed. For more retail and development coverage, bookmark Pasco County Community Website and read more business stories from around the county.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X for the latest local news, and join the conversation in our Community Forum — if you've spotted signs of who's moving into the old Old Time Pottery space, we'd love to hear about it.