ALDI to acquire Winn-Dixie

[cjd]

We recently bought some milk at WD. I don’t know what the store brand was before, but this was called “Know and Love”.

The font, colors and name reminds me of something Aldi would sell. I checked the back and it is still attributed to Southeastern Grocers.

I guess there’s no crossover with Aldi and WD items.

It would be neat if Aldi would sell their Aldi funds items in the WD “Dollar Shop” aisle that’s all 1.25.

[cjd]

I went to a Winn Dixie today that I’d never been to (at least since it’s been under the WD banner). It has the layout of one of those early 1990s era Food Lion stores, which then became Kash N Karry when Food Lion pulled out of Florida, and then later Sweetbay.

This store was doing quite a good business, there were a lot of customers. It seemed to be pretty well staffed.

However there were only two checkouts open, it seemed like they were preparing to open another. Also, this store had four self checkouts, which I had never seen any of in a Winn Dixie before, or even any of the Publix stores around here.

I think there was a customer service counter but the employee there was moving around the self checkouts.

The deli and bakery in this store was rather odd. It was small, in the front right corner and had kind of a rounded setup where the deli cooking area was sort of in the center. I am not sure if that was typical of Food Lion. Did Food Lion even have a deli and bakery? I don’t remember. I haven’t seen a setup like this in the other former Kash N Karry built stores.

There was also an unusually large alcove in the back left of the store leading to the restrooms and back room. It was almost like it was meant to be part of the sales floor. Maybe a Food Lion trait too.

Anyway like I said, this store was quite busy, and what surprised me was it was extremely clean and in very good condition given it hadn’t been updated.

I actually didn’t see anything out of place or out of stock in this store. Usually there’s always something I find at WD that’s a bit “off”
Somehow but this one actually exceeded my expectations.

I didn’t have my rewards card, but putting in my number gave me the BOGOs.

[storewanderer]

There are Food Lions with varying degrees of bakery/deli departments. Some very undermerchandised with unused cases and equipment. Service hot food is not something I've seen much of at Food Lion but I have seen it.

I've seen Winn Dixie with self checkout in quite a few places. Pretty sure I came across Bi Lo with self checkouts too.

Could the alcove have been a floral department space?

[mjhale]

Based on my observations, I'd say the alcove by the restrooms is more like a very short hallway. Looking at the Food Lion stores around me with this design, the area doesn't look like space that was meant for something else but was never used or formerly used floor space. The stores around me use the space in the alcove/short hallway for pallets of water or soda and for clearance items.

As for the deli/bakery, the Food Lion stores around me have some friend chicken in the cold cases. I'm assuming that they fry it there and it goes straight to the cold case after cooling off. Any kind of hot/prepared foods departed when Food Lion bailed on the Bloom concept and the merger with Ahold happened. The majority of the deli is grab and go. I was able to get them to slice for me when I need a full pound of cheese. I'm curious to know if they do any baking in store. Food Lion carries some of the same "artisan" breads that Ahold (Giant-MD/Giant-PA) sells. Baked goods look to be majority commercial brands like Lofthouse or things that would be thaw and serve. They have tubs of cookies and some "gourmet" ones as well which lead me to wonder if they bake anything in store, even if it is thaw or bake.

[cjd]

Yeah, I think I remember exactly that, the rear space used to display palleted items.

According to the property appraiser, the deli bakery was added in 1995, so I guess this store didn’t open with one originally, but that would’ve been still in its era as a Food Lion.

Didn’t notice much about Deli. There was the typical grab and go counter with rotisserie and fried chicken.

Bakery was a lot of stuff like cookies and cakes that looked to be pre packed to me, much of like you’d see at Walmart. There were also the little tiny pies like you see there too.

I’m drawing a blank, but I can’t recall the Food Lion in my town ever getting a deli or bakery dept.

Food Lion certainly picked some odd locations for its stores in the early 1990s. This Winn Dixie is pretty far outside of town. There is a Dollar Tree and Dollar General in that section now, but in the 1990s, there was quite literally nothing out there in the way of businesses. Houses, yes but in the way of stores, no.

It does seem to attract a good business, and anything I’d rather see a full offered supermarket remain there than an Aldi. But who knows what will happen.

[BillyGr]

Food Lion certainly picked some odd locations for its stores in the early 1990s. This Winn Dixie is pretty far outside of town. There is a Dollar Tree and Dollar General in that section now, but in the 1990s, there was quite literally nothing out there in the way of businesses. Houses, yes but in the way of stores, no.

It does seem to attract a good business, and anything I’d rather see a full offered supermarket remain there than an Aldi. But who knows what will happen.

I seem to remember that at one point that was part of their strategy, to have smaller stores but to locate them more frequently, So, that would probably explain being in spots where other stores didn't get to.

[Brian Lutz]

In their home territory of NC (and also SC to a somewhat lesser extent) Food Lion has become the de facto small town grocer for much of the state, frequently being the only grocer in towns too small for a Walmart. To some extent Ingles operates in the same niche in Western NC, but there's a lot of towns where you have a Food Lion and a Bojangles (and of course the obligatory nail salon and generic Chinese restaurant next door to the Food Lion) and not much else. If you're in a town that doesn't have at least those you know you're pretty well out in the sticks.

[cjd]

Winn Dixie’s pricing in general seems high to me. I was watching one of their ads on FB tonight and noticed a 2 liter Coca Cola was $3.69 (at least at that store) which to me is crazy, even Walgreens shows it at $3.39.

Now it was advertised in the ad as buy one get one 50% off but still. That would be $5.54 for two where Walmart is advertising $2.12 per bottle.

I’ve had people tell me in the past that WD was overpriced and this was before they got bought by Aldi or SEG. When WD bought Sweetbay in 2013, someone from GA told me that if these stores were converted to WD stores, that we’d be seeing big price increases. So I wonder why they have always been high. If they could be more competitive on price they could’ve been more viable.

Publix is another one that’s high, in general, but I could see people paying a premium to shop there even if just for the “Publix experience,” which is arguably not always there or what it was these days.

When Sweetbay was still open I remember them being more competitive on price vs Publix. And even Albertsons.

[cjd]

In their home territory of NC (and also SC to a somewhat lesser extent) Food Lion has become the de facto small town grocer for much of the state, frequently being the only grocer in towns too small for a Walmart. To some extent Ingles operates in the same niche in Western NC, but there's a lot of towns where you have a Food Lion and a Bojangles (and of course the obligatory nail salon and generic Chinese restaurant next door to the Food Lion) and not much else. If you're in a town that doesn't have at least those you know you're pretty well out in the sticks.

Similar here in Florida most smaller towns here you had Walmart, WD, Sweetbay and Save A Lot. If you were too small for Walmart, you didn’t have any of the latter 3.

Although, I know of one town that was too small for Walmart but had a Publix in addition to the latter 3.

Food Lion here in Florida typically only built stores in towns that also had a Publix. They just usually liked to locate on the outskirts of. those towns, away from other grocers.

There were a few that converted to Kash N Karry when Food Lion left the state.. The one in my town did not, as it was just a block away from K n K. It did convert to a store called “Sav N Pak” or similar, but it didn’t last but another year or two.

[storewanderer]

Winn Dixie’s pricing in general seems high to me. I was watching one of their ads on FB tonight and noticed a 2 liter Coca Cola was $3.69 (at least at that store) which to me is crazy, even Walgreens shows it at $3.39.

Now it was advertised in the ad as buy one get one 50% off but still. That would be $5.54 for two where Walmart is advertising $2.12 per bottle.

I’ve had people tell me in the past that WD was overpriced and this was before they got bought by Aldi or SEG. When WD bought Sweetbay in 2013, someone from GA told me that if these stores were converted to WD stores, that we’d be seeing big price increases. So I wonder why they have always been high. If they could be more competitive on price they could’ve been more viable.

Publix is another one that’s high, in general, but I could see people paying a premium to shop there even if just for the “Publix experience,” which is arguably not always there or what it was these days.

When Sweetbay was still open I remember them being more competitive on price vs Publix. And even Albertsons.

3.99-4.29 is the going rate on 2 L Branded Soda in Northern California.

3.69 in Winn Dixie territory seems far out of line to me. Should be like 2.79 which to me is still way too high. Vendors may not be giving good cost to Winn Dixie anymore knowing the chain is on the way out?