Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

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klkla
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Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by klkla »

This store just opened in Jacksonville. It had been closed for five years according to the article and is the first of 50 remodels to be done in the near future. The decor package is pretty dramatic. The only problem I see is that WD has historically been bad executing at store level.

A health food store-within-a-store concept, Naturally Better, will provide natural and organic products, 2,600 of which will be totally new to Winn-Dixie.

The store will also take a page out of some of its competitors' books, offering a made-to-order concept called The Kitchen, where an in-house, stone hearth pizza oven and smokehouse will offer pizza, brisket and pulled pork fresh-made for customers.

The store will have fresh-made coffee made-to-order and customers can drink it while shopping, thanks to new shopping cart cup holders.

Winn-Dixie Baymeadows will also offer higher-end versions of concepts it already had, like a deli with international and grass-fed cheeses, a meat case with a dry aging section and a fresh bakery.

The store is also tapping into local offerings, with its Beer, Wine & Spirits shop next door providing Florida-based spirits, including St. Augustine Distillery.



http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville ... omers.html
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by submariner »

klkla wrote:This store just opened in Jacksonville. It had been closed for five years according to the article

It took a REALLY long time for the paint to dry...
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by arizonaguy »

klkla wrote:This store just opened in Jacksonville. It had been closed for five years according to the article and is the first of 50 remodels to be done in the near future. The decor package is pretty dramatic. The only problem I see is that WD has historically been bad executing at store level.

A health food store-within-a-store concept, Naturally Better, will provide natural and organic products, 2,600 of which will be totally new to Winn-Dixie.

The store will also take a page out of some of its competitors' books, offering a made-to-order concept called The Kitchen, where an in-house, stone hearth pizza oven and smokehouse will offer pizza, brisket and pulled pork fresh-made for customers.

The store will have fresh-made coffee made-to-order and customers can drink it while shopping, thanks to new shopping cart cup holders.

Winn-Dixie Baymeadows will also offer higher-end versions of concepts it already had, like a deli with international and grass-fed cheeses, a meat case with a dry aging section and a fresh bakery.

The store is also tapping into local offerings, with its Beer, Wine & Spirits shop next door providing Florida-based spirits, including St. Augustine Distillery.



http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville ... omers.html
Sounds a lot like what Kroger has been doing with their newer / recently remodeled stores. The lettering even bares a similar resemblance to Kroger's "Marketplace" decor.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by pseudo3d »

Those aren't even real photos. :|

I don't know about this one, Winn-Dixie is still Winn-Dixie, and trying to reinvent it into a Publix-style full merchandise store with Costco's décor...I don't buy it, and this is from someone who liked the one they came up post-bankruptcy with the word "freshly" everywhere. Maybe if they tried to push it under a different name, I might buy it...but I feel like Winn-Dixie can't really pull itself out of the past, no matter what spiffy new store remodels it pulls out.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:Those aren't even real photos. :|
I noticed the same thing. All CGI.

I think this will be too little, too late *IF* they can implement it chain wide. They didn't do it with the last one, and I don't think they can do it for this one.

WD has been behind everyone else for decades. I don't think this store design will change that, because everyone else has been doing this for a while.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:Those aren't even real photos. :|
I noticed the same thing. All CGI.

I think this will be too little, too late *IF* they can implement it chain wide. They didn't do it with the last one, and I don't think they can do it for this one.

WD has been behind everyone else for decades. I don't think this store design will change that, because everyone else has been doing this for a while.
I think there was another remodel package between these two as well. Like Sears Holdings, if you don't have the direction to follow through on major re-dos of the chain, then you're dead in the water. In many ways, pushing Lifestyle through the chain was a bad idea, but Safeway did follow through and remodel most of its stores before it sold out, and in some respects, it did benefit the chain.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Winn-Dixie do some major store sales sooner rather or later at this rate.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by wnetmacman »

pseudo3d wrote:I wouldn't be surprised to see Winn-Dixie do some major store sales sooner rather or later at this rate.
My bet is on Albertsons/Safeway buying the whole chain (Southeastern Grocers) and getting rid of the 'overlap' stores in Louisiana. Maybe Kroger, but they haven't been on a buying/merging spree lately.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by pseudo3d »

wnetmacman wrote:
pseudo3d wrote:I wouldn't be surprised to see Winn-Dixie do some major store sales sooner rather or later at this rate.
My bet is on Albertsons/Safeway buying the whole chain (Southeastern Grocers) and getting rid of the 'overlap' stores in Louisiana. Maybe Kroger, but they haven't been on a buying/merging spree lately.
Kroger has circled the waters a few times and was rumored to buy Winn-Dixie when rumors surfaced of Kroger buying into a new territory (turned out it was Roundy's), but Albertsons is in no position to buy an 800-store chain (probably slightly less than that due to store closures) any time soon, especially given all the integration problems and dubious stores (after all, W-D had problems integrating Harveys and Sweetbay). The most likely scenario is that Winn-Dixie puts up a bunch of stores for sale, including many Florida locations and all the remaining Louisiana locations. Albertsons buys many of the stores, including ones in more urban areas of Louisiana and in Florida, for conversion to their own brands. Some go to independents. W-D management will claim that it's a "strategic re-alignment" to focus on the Southeast (and try to make it so that all stores are sold and go to new operators) and use the money to improve their existing stock of stores, even though their stock in Florida is cut into even deeper than it used to. Unsold stores (the full list will never be made public) likely end up in the next closing list.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by storewanderer »

I think Winn Dixie is a garbage chain. I've seen remodeled stores that are clean and look nice and seem to have what should be a compelling perimeter offering but the product quality is just not there. Their converted Sweetbays are really bad, and also have small and unappealing perimeters. Their pricing is terrible (worse than Publix on items I compared), checkout is slow, cleanliness in the older locations is rather suspect, and in general they are just not a pleasant place to shop at all. They remind me of a below average independent grocer. I too think Albertsons/Safeway may buy it just to show growth because they appear to be hard up to show growth but I also think Bob Miller is smart enough to avoid 800 stores of trash. A lot of these stores are also smaller 40,000 square foot stores which are past their time and need a lot of capital to remodel. The Winn Dixie customer is also not quite the same as the Albertsons or Safeway customer. Winn Dixie is comparable to Save Mart in the west; old stores that need capital, higher than average prices, no compelling reason to shop there. The only difference is Save Mart has pretty good service in its stores; Winn Dixie doesn't even have that.
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Re: Winn-Dixie Reveals Next generation Store

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote:I think Winn Dixie is a garbage chain. I've seen remodeled stores that are clean and look nice and seem to have what should be a compelling perimeter offering but the product quality is just not there. Their converted Sweetbays are really bad, and also have small and unappealing perimeters. Their pricing is terrible (worse than Publix on items I compared), checkout is slow, cleanliness in the older locations is rather suspect, and in general they are just not a pleasant place to shop at all. They remind me of a below average independent grocer. I too think Albertsons/Safeway may buy it just to show growth because they appear to be hard up to show growth but I also think Bob Miller is smart enough to avoid 800 stores of trash. A lot of these stores are also smaller 40,000 square foot stores which are past their time and need a lot of capital to remodel. The Winn Dixie customer is also not quite the same as the Albertsons or Safeway customer. Winn Dixie is comparable to Save Mart in the west; old stores that need capital, higher than average prices, no compelling reason to shop there. The only difference is Save Mart has pretty good service in its stores; Winn Dixie doesn't even have that.
As Publix expands, it's going to take the problems Winn-Dixie was having in Florida and multiply that through the W-D/BI-LO chain. While I agree that Southeastern Grocers is a B-list style chain (at best), not all 800 stores are garbage and if W-D plays its cards right, it can sell off some nice stores/stores in markets it doesn't want to be in anymore and use the cash to help with the rest of the chain.


EDIT: Also, the high ceiling makes a big difference, this was the first store to get the new remodel package...

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