Authorities said the alligator wandered up to the front doors of the store in Apopka, Florida, early morning on Sunday.
"Someone inside said, 'There's a gator at the door,'" shopper Robin Watkins told WESH Channel 2 in Orlando.
"It was a nice size gator, just chilling," Watkins added.
Employees at the store closed one side of the entrance after the gator approached.
Apopka police officers were called to the scene and they blocked the area for about an hour. A trapper was also called to handle the alligator.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) told ABC News that the alligator had been found and was being kept in a retention pond near the store.
"He'll be put down, unfortunately. It looks like he has lost the fear of people, and we don't want to take the chance of him hurting anybody," said Karen Parker, a spokeswoman for the FWC.
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