3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:They probably did it for legal reasons. Remember, despite Winn-Dixie commonly being viewed as a successor to the Jitney Jungle chain (being a good chunk of the stores and keeping them open), even the Wikipedia chain erroneously says they bought the company, they actually just bought the stores and not the names.
Wikipedia is a crowd-sourced site. It is not known gospel. I use it for general information, not for the final authority. You shouldn't either.

Additionally, I don't know of anyone who thinks of WD as the successor to JJ or Delchamps. They bought the largest number of stores, but many did not go to them. West of I-55 in Louisiana, they did not get one store. There were 4 in Lafayette that just closed outright, and 3 outside of Lafayette that became Super 1 Foods (Abbeville, Eunice and Opelousas; Opelousas isn't Super 1 now either). Only in Mississippi would they be close, and most of those didn't survive either.
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by Wolfman »

SEG is also closing their Harvey's stores in Statesboro and also Hazlehurst, GA. I really don't "get" the low low concept and their rebranding of Harvey's into some sort of faux discount grocer with piss yellow walls.

It is obvious the company doesn't have a clue how or what to retail, spending the money to rebrand to shuttering those same stores only months later.

A town that already has a nearby faux-discount grocer such as Walmart Supercenter doesn't need another. Those people are already served. Folks such as myself that long for a traditional grocery store such as Kroger or Publix are alienated by the new Harvey's.

It would be in SEG's best interest (if they truly wish to stay in business) to distance themselves from the faux discount grocer, pick one of their brands to be upscale to those unserved markets, and actually try to be a full service grocer. Maybe that's too much to ask.
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by pseudo3d »

Wolfman wrote:SEG is also closing their Harvey's stores in Statesboro and also Hazlehurst, GA. I really don't "get" the low low concept and their rebranding of Harvey's into some sort of faux discount grocer with piss yellow walls.

It is obvious the company doesn't have a clue how or what to retail, spending the money to rebrand to shuttering those same stores only months later.

A town that already has a nearby faux-discount grocer such as Walmart Supercenter doesn't need another. Those people are already served. Folks such as myself that long for a traditional grocery store such as Kroger or Publix are alienated by the new Harvey's.

It would be in SEG's best interest (if they truly wish to stay in business) to distance themselves from the faux discount grocer, pick one of their brands to be upscale to those unserved markets, and actually try to be a full service grocer. Maybe that's too much to ask.
I don't know which Statesboro store is closing. One appears to have been always Harveys, the other was a former Food Lion (not sure how old that listing really is...might have converted as back as early as 2003). Neither seem to be conversions of Winn-Dixie or BI-LO. Hazlehurst also seems to be an original Harvey's, though looks like it was "reset" as the SEG Harvey's.

SEG has wasted too much time. For the last 25 years, they've refused to really build up new stores and keep their store base modernized, they've refused to pull out of areas that were going nowhere until it was too late, they've refused to really stick with the prototypes that really worked, and they've refused to stand up against their competitors and fight back. No other grocer has been that incompetent to fail at all of those in as long as Winn-Dixie has.
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by Wolfman »

Actually the Hazlehurst store was an original W-D prior to 1996-97 and was subsequently demolished and Food Lion (prior to Delhaize) built a brand new store 1998-99. After the merger of Harvey's into Delhaize it became a Harvey's.

The only other grocer in Hazlehurst, other than Walmart, is a Piggly wiggly, which is a quite seedy place, and runs a cost+10% discount plan. Our grocery bill is always lowest if I AVOID Walmart and the pig.

We didn't need another "discount" grocer obviously, I'm sure sales have suffered since they painted store piss yellow and instead of fixing it, they just throw in the towel.

Maybe there will now be room for a save-a-lot where you can actually save money on groceries!
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by BillyGr »

Wolfman wrote:Actually the Hazlehurst store was an original W-D prior to 1996-97 and was subsequently demolished and Food Lion (prior to Delhaize) built a brand new store 1998-99. After the merger of Harvey's into Delhaize it became a Harvey's.
Technically not prior to Delhaize, since they've had a controlling interest in Food Town (later Food Lion) since 1976. Just prior to their purchase of Harvey's, probably?
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by Knight »

Wolfman wrote:SEG is also closing their Harvey's stores in Statesboro and also Hazlehurst, GA. I really don't "get" the low low concept and their rebranding of Harvey's into some sort of faux discount grocer with piss yellow walls.

It is obvious the company doesn't have a clue how or what to retail, spending the money to rebrand to shuttering those same stores only months later.

A town that already has a nearby faux-discount grocer such as Walmart Supercenter doesn't need another. Those people are already served. Folks such as myself that long for a traditional grocery store such as Kroger or Publix are alienated by the new Harvey's.
Both Harvey's Supermarkets stores in Statesboro, Georgia, are now Food World, a former Bruno's banner.

BI-LO #5567, Statesboro Mall, 325 Northside Drive East, Suite 1, Statesboro, Georgia 30458-7121, remains open. It may be in process of closing. The pharmacy, which opened in 2014, and other departments have closed.

Statesboro can use the return of Publix and Kroger.
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Re: 3 more Louisiana Winn-Dixies to close

Post by Knight »

wnetmacman wrote:
Knight wrote:This would be the Food Pavilion concept found in select Winn-Dixie Marketplace stores in the mid-1990's. These stores existed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
The Lafayette store closing had an abbreviated Food Pavilion, since it wasn't built as a Marketplace. It was removed in 2001-2002.
Knight wrote:I think Winn-Dixie had nearly 1,178 stores prior to 2000. At the present, Publix has 1,145 stores in a smaller footprint.

I think Southeastern Grocers executed bad decisions under McLeod to turn away customers instead of making the necessary decisions to remain competitive. Bad decisions include banner conversions to Harvey's Supermarkets and Fresco y Más, the closing of pharmacy departments in underachieving stores, and not exiting specific markets.
That was their height. I don't just blame McLeod, though the company has made sure to pin everything on him. WD has never treated pharmacy whole-heartedly. The Banner conversions are a temporary solution to a permanent problem.
Knight wrote:Southeastern Grocers should exit Louisiana and Mississippi. Rouse's. Walmart, and Albertson's are present indeed. Additional supermarket competition could arrive with Publix.
Albertsons only competes directly in three cities: Lafayette (well, for now), Baton Rouge and Hammond. Walmart is a threat to all of them. Rouses is expanding. I expect them to get at least one of these stores.
BI-LO Holdings had pre-existing issues prior to Ian MacLeod. Acquiring stores from the former Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company in 2013 was a disaster.

Banner conversions are a temporary solution indeed. Time has come for underperforming stores and stores with expiring leases to close. This wave of store closings could be the first of many coming.
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