One Lafayette, LA Winn Dixie closing March 9

[wnetmacman]

Local Story

The Winn Dixie store on Ambassador Caffrey Parkway in Lafayette, LA will be closing on March 9. This is a circa-1997 store that was opened with two others that closed previously. It is quite possibly the most neglected in the entire store fleet. One of the comments in this story that I saw on one local site was that WD asked the landlord to fix the lot, the landlord said no, so WD will be closing. No word on other plans; an adjacent trailer park was closed late last year for a supposed expansion of the shopping center that will only have Family Dollar and Rite Aid remaining.

Google Maps view. Switch to street view to see the storefront. It's faded and torn, but clean inside.

Lafayette has just one remaining Winn Dixie, at 3603 Moss. It's a fairly busy store, but WD has been moving closer to the Mississippi River with each closing; there will only be 9 stores remaining west of the river.

[pseudo3d]

Aw man, that's the Marketplace I wanted to go inside but didn't have enough time. Wish there's pictures out there!

Anyway, between a stabilized Albertsons and a growing Rouses, Winn-Dixie seems like it's getting squeezed out of larger markets (with the notable exception of New Orleans). I imagine the rural ones will continue to hold on, but I don't know for how long...the newest red remodel package is especially cheap-looking. I imagine the next big thing that will happen will be that Winn-Dixie either sells off the Hammond DC (or, in a more troubling case, all of their distribution centers) entirely to C&S (which will keep the remaining stores served) or a mass sale of stores. With a "mass sale", even if some stores in Louisiana hang on and stay open as Winn-Dixie, it could mean that Albertsons and/or Kroger could regain lost Louisiana territory, though I imagine some independents might be interested in stores as well.

[wnetmacman]

WD has been slowly, methodically retreating west of the river. There are only 3 stores west of Lafayette (Rayne, Crowley and Eunice). Joined with New Iberia, Lafayette (Moss), Abbeville, Breaux Bridge and Franklin, that is all that remain. Of those stores:

Rayne is 80's original layout with a newer (but not newest) decor package
Breaux Bridge, Lafayette, Eunice and Franklin are all expansions of the 80's stores
Crowley and New Iberia are newer (late 90's) stores
Abbeville is a Parallelogram store
Breaux Bridge was remodeled a couple of years ago.

Very little investment has been made at the western border.

[wnetmacman]

Also, the last few WD stores closed (Matthews and Ponchatoula, LA) were both taken over by Rouses. They're almost all in perfect locations for them. This store would give them a fourth in the Lafayette area, and the rumor is that the landlord wanted WD out to attract someone more....profitable.

[pseudo3d]

Also, the last few WD stores closed (Matthews and Ponchatoula, LA) were both taken over by Rouses. They're almost all in perfect locations for them. This store would give them a fourth in the Lafayette area, and the rumor is that the landlord wanted WD out to attract someone more....profitable.

Rouses is already south of Albertsons with a nice & new store, though it might give them an edge over ABS with stores on both sides. Otherwise, I could see maybe Brookshire's or Market Basket.

[wnetmacman]

Rouses is already south of Albertsons with a nice & new store, though it might give them an edge over ABS with stores on both sides. Otherwise, I could see maybe Brookshire's or Market Basket.

Market Basket (Texas) doesn't operate east of Lake Arthur (south of Jennings), and they'd get eaten alive here.

Brookshire would only want it to introduce Super 1 Foods to the Scott area, where they have plans to build a store soon. The plans for Carencro were on the books for 3-4 years before construction started, so I would possibly see them taking this one over to use temporarily (The Super 1 Foods I worked in in 1990 was a temporary store (#612) that operated for 2 years while the main store was built. That store is now 23 years old.

Rouses has overlapping stores in several places they operate; Thibodaux has 3 stores in a small town of 20,000; Covington/Mandeville have three stores in a 4 mile stretch of 190/Causeway Approach. This store is a pretty good ways from the closest Rouses, and I wouldn't put it past them, knowing the landlord history here.

Shoot, maybe Kroger is looking to come back. That would just kill Albertsons.

[pseudo3d]

Rouses is already south of Albertsons with a nice & new store, though it might give them an edge over ABS with stores on both sides. Otherwise, I could see maybe Brookshire's or Market Basket.

Market Basket (Texas) doesn't operate east of Lake Arthur (south of Jennings), and they'd get eaten alive here.

Brookshire would only want it to introduce Super 1 Foods to the Scott area, where they have plans to build a store soon. The plans for Carencro were on the books for 3-4 years before construction started, so I would possibly see them taking this one over to use temporarily (The Super 1 Foods I worked in in 1990 was a temporary store (#612) that operated for 2 years while the main store was built. That store is now 23 years old.

Rouses has overlapping stores in several places they operate; Thibodaux has 3 stores in a small town of 20,000; Covington/Mandeville have three stores in a 4 mile stretch of 190/Causeway Approach. This store is a pretty good ways from the closest Rouses, and I wouldn't put it past them, knowing the landlord history here.

Shoot, maybe Kroger is looking to come back. That would just kill Albertsons.

Kroger flirted with the idea of buying Winn-Dixie even as recently as 2005, but it's just not Kroger's M.O. to start picking up stores in areas where it has no market share. From what I've seen nationally is that Kroger buys a local high-performing chain, then focuses on the base while adding and upgrading stores there. If we're going with the Houston Division (formerly Southwest, as the Dallas Division broke off), they have very few non-Houston markets. A token few in Louisiana, probably remnants of when they pulled out of the Louisiana area in the 1980s (I believe they have one store in Lake Charles), Orange, Huntsville, and Bryan-College Station. That should be about it. Nacogdoches I think may be in the Dallas division. Plus, while center store has good pricing, the perishable departments are not good (at least, again, with the Houston division).

[wnetmacman]

Kroger flirted with the idea of buying Winn-Dixie even as recently as 2005, but it's just not Kroger's M.O. to start picking up stores in areas where it has no market share. From what I've seen nationally is that Kroger buys a local high-performing chain, then focuses on the base while adding and upgrading stores there. If we're going with the Houston Division (formerly Southwest, as the Dallas Division broke off), they have very few non-Houston markets. A token few in Louisiana, probably remnants of when they pulled out of the Louisiana area in the 1980s (I believe they have one store in Lake Charles), Orange, Huntsville, and Bryan-College Station. That should be about it. Nacogdoches I think may be in the Dallas division. Plus, while center store has good pricing, the perishable departments are not good.

They have 2 stores in Shreveport (a Marketplace is under construction), 2 in Bossier City (Marketplace almost complete), one in Alexandria and three in Lake Charles/Sulphur (The Sulphur store is a former Albertsons. LC has an old FC and a greenhouse)

In Texas, east of Dallas, are Longview (FC and a Marketplace under construction), Marshall (FC), Henderson (former Safeway), Nacogdoches (FC and an acquisition), Palestine (greenhouse), and Paris (FC). Note the trend of still-operating Family Centers?
In the Houston Division: Beaumont, Orange (FC), Bryan/College Station, Conroe and Huntsville.

Kroger buys stores that are #1 or #2, and they don't operate stores in areas that they can't be #1 or a very close #2. Louisiana is tough from Lafayette east, because you have to carry the local meats and groceries, or you don't make it. Kroger had a line of stores from Opelousas down through Morgan City and throughout Baton Rouge. None survive. Only one is still even a grocery store.

[pseudo3d]

Kroger flirted with the idea of buying Winn-Dixie even as recently as 2005, but it's just not Kroger's M.O. to start picking up stores in areas where it has no market share. From what I've seen nationally is that Kroger buys a local high-performing chain, then focuses on the base while adding and upgrading stores there. If we're going with the Houston Division (formerly Southwest, as the Dallas Division broke off), they have very few non-Houston markets. A token few in Louisiana, probably remnants of when they pulled out of the Louisiana area in the 1980s (I believe they have one store in Lake Charles), Orange, Huntsville, and Bryan-College Station. That should be about it. Nacogdoches I think may be in the Dallas division. Plus, while center store has good pricing, the perishable departments are not good.

They have 2 stores in Shreveport (a Marketplace is under construction), 2 in Bossier City (Marketplace almost complete), one in Alexandria and three in Lake Charles/Sulphur (The Sulphur store is a former Albertsons. LC has an old FC and a greenhouse)

In Texas, east of Dallas, are Longview (FC and a Marketplace under construction), Marshall (FC), Henderson (former Safeway), Nacogdoches (FC and an acquisition), Palestine (greenhouse), and Paris (FC). Note the trend of still-operating Family Centers?
In the Houston Division: Beaumont, Orange (FC), Bryan/College Station, Conroe and Huntsville.

Kroger buys stores that are #1 or #2, and they don't operate stores in areas that they can't be #1 or a very close #2. Louisiana is tough from Lafayette east, because you have to carry the local meats and groceries, or you don't make it. Kroger had a line of stores from Opelousas down through Morgan City and throughout Baton Rouge. None survive. Only one is still even a grocery store.

I do know that the A&P Futurestore originated in a former Kroger, which is why the Futurestores built by A&P bear a passing resemblance to Greenhouse stores. Speaking of which, Kroger had the opportunity to buy the New Orleans A&P stores when they were being sold, and they didn't. Albertsons didn't spring for it as it was still in the "cut all the fat you can" LLC days (though at the time, they were buying Raleys stores and had been discussing with then-bankrupt Bashas' about buying the chain). The only areas where Kroger could definitely secure a #1 is where Winn-Dixie is the only game in town (besides Walmart of course), such as Rayne, but then again, that store is only 30,000 square feet. If W-D wants out, the best hope for that store is an independent, unless Albertsons thinks it can pull off a small-town 30k square feet store, which even if you account for all that's happened to Albertsons Cos. in the last 10 years seems like a bit of a stretch. Arlan's Market, a local Texas chain that has collected locations in Austin, Houston, AND San Antonio might be plausible, as it seems to be happy to be operating stores as small as 11,000 square feet...though it has no stores even close to Louisiana's border.

[wnetmacman]

Kroger had the opportunity to buy the New Orleans A&P stores when they were being sold, and they didn't. Albertsons didn't spring for it as it was still in the "cut all the fat you can" LLC days (though at the time, they were buying Raleys stores and had been discussing with then-bankrupt Bashas' about buying the chain).

Albertsons didn't take the hook on A&P New Orleans in 2007 because they had already failed with most of those stores a few years earlier.

The only areas where Kroger could definitely secure a #1 is where Winn-Dixie is the only game in town (besides Walmart of course), such as Rayne, but then again, that store is only 30,000 square feet.

And those small areas, like Rayne, are part of the Lafayette (or another close by large) MSA, where they wouldn't be #1, so it wouldn't happen.

If W-D wants out, the best hope for that store is an independent, unless Albertsons thinks it can pull off a small-town 30k square feet store, which even if you account for all that's happened to Albertsons Cos. in the last 10 years seems like a bit of a stretch.

For Rayne, Crowley and Eunice, this is a strong possibility. There is a local Piggly Wiggly operator that has successfully taken over several stores (including the store in this thread's original location) and made them fairly viable. Crowley and Eunice are larger (45,000 SF) stores. Rayne is the only smaller holdout in this area. Maybe even Market Basket could use this as an inroad to get closer to Lafayette if these become available.