Many of the Goodings stores were formerly Pantry Prides.Bagels wrote: ↑March 20th, 2020, 7:05 pmThe Pantry Prides (Food Fair) were old and in rough shape. Winn Dixie did try to make a go of it in Florida -- among other acquisitions, it acquired up most of the Goodings in the Orlando-area -- but was crushed by Walmart, which focused on the Southeast (including Florida) for its initial supermarkets. Remember, most of those early supercenters had full-service meat, deli and bakery counters (Walmart has since eliminated full-service meat counters, and limited many deli and bakery service items). Winn Dixie simply couldn't compete with Walmart on price, or Publix on its shopping experience. IMO, it's remarkable there's as many Winn Dixies left as there is.veteran+ wrote: ↑March 18th, 2020, 3:33 pm Yes, W/D was truly a Florida chain but they messed up there as well.
They had a huge opportunity when Pantry Pride finally disappeared. Every other major grocery retailer was gone except Publix and the growing Walmart. Albertsons was always a joke in Florida and anyone else did not have a mass presence to be a contender.
This was a market that W/D should have known forwards and backwards and if they were truly paying attention to the demographic changes they could have gobbled up many Pantry Prides and give Publix and Walmart a good contest.
The condition of the Pantry Pride stores were mixed. Some were functionally okay and some were refurbished. The last NEW one was opened in Sunny Isles north Miami Beach (1991?). Also some stores were closed and replaced (like store #223 Dadeland Mall in Miami).
I still believe W/D missed its opportunity. Every step they took was ill conceived and poorly executed. They waffled between trying to be the low price leader to upscaling their stores to parody Publix. Even their attempts for hispanic customers was laughable.
IMO.....W/D should have studied Stater Brothers in S. Cali for more effective results.